Yes, it kind of is hypocritical to ask this on a social media platform, but what do you guys get out of it?
“Look at this cool thing I found!” It can just be nice to share stuff with other people. There doesn’t need to be a deeper reason, it’s a function of humans being social animals.
This includes motivations such as wanting to discuss the thing with other people, to compare your own view with theirs, or simply to satisfy the need to yell at someone.
Edit: typo
The first word in social media is “social”. People typically post on social media because they want to socialize in one way or another.
Exactly. It’s the same as the answer to the question, “Why do you talk to people?”
Ego (in the broad, classic sense of our need to have self identity) and–increasingly–loneliness due to the husk of societal interactions many developed nations have let wither due to overwork, TV and privatization of public spaces.
When I share, I’m trying to pay it back. Some of you jabronies shared some cool things with me that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. So the least I can do is try and do the same.
And if everyone did this, Lemmy would be flush with content.
I find like-minded people who don’t exist locally.
For social recognition. I would not post something on the internet if I didn’t expect someone else to see it.
“Why do people talk to other people”
I’m a performing artist. The stuff I share promotes causes I enjoy, keeps me relevant in an ever expanding scene, and helps get the word out for local shows and events.
Also a lot of shitposting. Mostly shitposting.
Dopamine. Affirmation. Attention.
Although I don’t share that much on social media anymore.
Many reasons. Searching for opinions and perspectives like you seem to be here. Searching for information and recommendations to resources. Sharing interesting things with friends and family.
“Be the reason someone smiles today”. ,… and I need to gou out and touch some grass and take some more photos soon. I wanted to largely post pics of things people don’t normally see and hope they go 'cool, that’s a nice shot, might make it my wallpaper".
I’ve been shitposting and talking to other anonymous people online since 1999.
UBB anime boards
Somethingawful
4chan
Reddit
and now, I dance the babushka, for you!
And now, I find myself home to Lemmy. Just one of the thousands of Anons posting opinion, then meme, then opinion, then shitpost in the background static of the greater internet hive mind.
Arguments, rebukes, comments, discussions… discourse. It’s all necessary to me. I have to get in the fray. I have to cause the fray, in some instances. Discussion is life, passion in many instances. People care about what they care about and I both want to know why and tell why.
Because social media will usually allow us to contact other people with similar niche interests, people that we’d be hard pressed to find IRL
Mostly, to bring my friends joy.
Sometimes, to see if anyone is willing to discuss the thing I’m sharing with me.
For me, it’s nice to share information and have light, friendly interactions. I don’t care for engaging in online conflicts or debates. That kind of stuff adds unnecessary stress to my life that I don’t want.
As far as SM with my real identity, like IG: It’s nice updating friends and family about life events. Sometimes I post silly things. Stuff like engagement doesn’t bother me bc it’s not about having a popularity contest.
But in particular, I like posting highlights as they happen throughout the year. My memory (for dates, especially!) isn’t that great, so this lets me scroll through in chronological order and quickly see what I’ve been up to. It’s sort of like keeping a picture diary.
Do you find Instagram is still working well for you for this purpose?
I signed up due to popular pressure at some point, and in the beginning the chronological feed was very nice. I would use it maybe once a week or less, and like the stuff my friends had posted since last time.
Then over time, my friends’ content started drowning in I don’t even know what. Sometimes I would see a post or two, but I would never see everything they had posted since last time. It just didn’t work as a platform to use for consuming a finite amount of content.
I ended up abandoning ship. But it sucks a bit, as my friends might still be on there posting things I would have been happy to see.
Yeah I agree the home feed sucks now, for chronological purposes. It used to be better. But what I do is I favorite (star?) close friends/family so that it gives me a notification whenever they post something. For everyone else, I might miss their updates especially since I don’t spend forever on there…
That’s a bit convoluted, but glad you found a workaround!