Why Facebook Is So Addictive? [CASE STUDY]

More than 500 million active users, an average of 130 friends each, a total of 700 billion minutes spent per month with a daily usage of 55 minutes. Just what is it about Facebook that kept us logged like that, we allow it to control our lives and made us became willing contributors to Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth?

Facebook

We feel worthy

Every single status update, photo shared and link posted you have made on your Facebook wall is actually attributed to a theory on psychology. Abraham Maslow stated that humans have three basic needs, which are for love, affection and a sense of belonging. We might not realize it but that in sharing with our friends our activities and photographs, we are actually seeking for attention and belongingness. We want people to notice us and of course, we feel better when they do and take time to comment on our posts. The best is that it’s OK to do so on Facebook because that’s what Facebook is meant for. I often joke and call all these a case of narcissism!

And then we subscribe to the email notifications that notify us as soon as someone makes a comment on your posts. These only show how addicted we are to Facebook that we NEED to know when someone has had something said. And we’d check out that comment right away, sometimes even through the email itself so that we save a few seconds of “anxiety”. We do love ourselves so much eh? Most people even have notifications that alert them whenever someone has commented after them. Now, Facebook is going to empower your lives.


Stalking (or being a busybody) is fun!

Now, don’t tell me that you haven’t done this at any point. If I, the average Facebook user, have done it and continue to do so, I believe that this happens elsewhere too. There is surely someone among your “friends” that you want to know more about. You’d want to see if that colleague of yours has a wild side, you want to check out your schoolmate’s wedding gown or you want to know if your ex has a new girl. Stalking will happen more frequently if it involves someone whom you have a crush on. I speak from experience. Facebook is great because it gives you peeks into people’s lives without them even knowing it.


Increasing your number of “friends”

Facebook has brought together people who have been separated after they have left school, a workplace or even a country. I thought it was simply marvellous that a classmate from primary school, whom I have last seen 10 years ago, found me on Facebook. You’d never who you’d find or find you each time you log in. Facebook makes this task easier by suggesting people whom it thinks you might know. And so you log in each time hoping that your number of friends will grow. I know having a large number of friends is flattering!

Besides growing the number of friends, I mean widening your network, Facebook is a great tool for catching up. You don’t have to pick up the phone anymore only to stumble on what to say. A quick ‘hi’ on your friends’ wall suffices to let them know that they are in your thoughts.


It’s the most fun site to kill boredom

What other site lets you snoop around people’s lives, have a say on their photos and statuses, read articles that they think are worth reading and watch videos that they feel you should not miss? When you have gone through all those, there are quizzes that help you get to know yourself better. And of course, there were the days when Facebook games ruled our lives (and still do). Animals need to be tended to at all times and crops need to be watched to prevent thieves from stealing them. There were also cafes and restaurants to run. How can one not be addicted to Facebook with such “commitments” needed from it?

It is hard to imagine what we all did in our past time and how we managed to keep everything to ourselves before the creation of Facebook. I don’t remember Friendster or MySpace being this big. Facebook looks set to stay for a couple more years, even longer unless something more powerful (and addictive) crops up. Just to end this piece, here’s a question:

Q: When FaceBook, MySpace and Twitter merge into one super social networking company what will it be called?

A: They will call it “My Twit Face.”

This article is written by Jasmine. She is an experienced web developer and web consultant. She is also the chief editor at 100WebHosting.com – a web hosting review and resources website.

43 thoughts on “Why Facebook Is So Addictive? [CASE STUDY]”

  1. Pingback: Facebook Addiction
  2. Facebook is full of shit i posted 3 pics up of my hamsters genitals and anus then somebody stole my account

    Reply
  3. You gave me a smile Jasmine. Your article covered the basic roots and reasons behind the success of social media. I would say social media and not facebook because facebook is just what could bring us that complete package and could also become a brand because becoming a brand is not just being good.

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Digital Life Academy Blog » Blog Archive » ARE YOU A ZOMBIE? THE FACEBOOK EXPERIENCE // SETH SMITH
  5. Hi,
    the funny thing with the facebook is that the news published in weeklyworldnews.com posted on Sunday, March 13th, 2011 about the facebook closure.The article has generated 9500 comments and lots of panicking users.
    Many Thanks
    Omo

    Reply
  6. When even there is nothing to do in facebook I just swap between Home page and Profile Page!!
    I used to wonder why I dont get bored doing that!!

    Reply
  7. Yeah jasmine, FB is one of the basic platform to share any thing, so most of the peoples are addictive like me:). Thanks a lot for sharing your valuable time on here.

    Reply
  8. Wonderful and amazing analysis of Facebook usefulness and beneficial. Actually knowledge is an ocean and there is no end of it. Thanks for your fruitful and experienced informatics stuff.

    Reply
  9. I think it depends on person to person because some people found interesting things in Facebook and some are in others like twitter, orkut etc.

    Reply
  10. this is why facebook should not exist, you are wrong to go into his account and wrong to spy and wrong wrong wrong! Yet he is so wrong to be meeting other girls on the sied WRONG! so what two wrongs don't make a right? RIGHT! fix it! tell him you know!

    Reply
  11. LOL – Your are definately right.

    We’ve logged into facebook even we are doing our work.

    and Mobile notifications makes it more easier to get it done asap. 🙂

    Reply
      • I’d delete my Facebook account in a second if a better alternative came along. This was better than MySpace, which never captured me or most of the people of my generation. Each social network has its pros and cons, and I don’t deny the problems that Facebook creates. It’s still capturing the essence of social networking for a bigger group of people than anything else right now.
        Regards. Tessa

        Reply
      • Youtube to me is more addictive…I dont like the all pervasive mediocrity that accompanies the profile of each and every user on Facebook!

        Reply
  12. As addictive as it is right now, I doubt FB will be still around in a few years :/ Things come and go.

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  13. I think the reason that so many people are spending hours on Facebook is that they can do things that won’t use the brain too much meanwhile they can kill a lot of time to stop thinking at something else.

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  14. I hate facebook. The only good thing is we are able to connect to people like my school friends whom I had lost touch with years ago. Other than that, it gives false sense of connection.

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  15. I think its application and gaming section made it so much addictive and popular . Where people don’t only chat but also started playing games and enjoying other applications .

    Reply
  16. FB is effective and addictive because of many reason.one popular reason is zynga games. My god my lil bro is so addicted that he wants to check his city ,business and hospital every one hour lol

    I would like to share an Interesting and useful Info-graph: The Business Behind Facebook.Hope you don’t mind 🙂

    Reply
  17. Facebook is really addictive specially the games like cityville, farmwille and mafia wars…they keep people tied up with them…

    Reply
  18. Facebook was very addictive when I was new there, but when days passed by……Facebook was boring to the core 😀

    Reply
  19. you are right, Facebook is the most fun site to kill boredom… so many people are addicted to it…

    Reply

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