Social media has become a major part of our society with individuals of all ages logging in to see what friends and family are up to or even to get updated on the news.
With more people than ever getting connected, many studies are coming out on what our social media use might just say about who we are.
For example, this chart from Statista shows the percentage of adults who use social media broken down by income level.
As the chart depicts, Americans who have an income between 50k-75k are the most likely to use social media. But one question that I certainly still have is does your social media use predict your income or does your income predict your social media use? Or is the relationship more complex than that?
And while the jury is still out on income and social media use, the one thing that is certain is that social media does affect our buying habits. So much so that advertisers were willing to spend more than 27 billion dollars in the 4th quarter of 2020 on Facebook’s platforms to influence buying behavior.
However, many researchers are now showing that it isn’t just ads that are influencing us to spend more on social media. It is actually our friends and family.
We all want to put our best foot forward on social media and the result is an illusion that everyone is doing financially better than they probably are. When we see our friends and family on an exotic vacation or buying a new car it can be hard to not want to keep up with the Joneses. If they can afford that lifestyle then why can’t we, right?
It’s Not All Bad
Social Media has been getting a bad reputation for some of its negative side effects but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the good as well. Social media can bring us together like never before and has helped many stay connected through much of the quarantining of 2020. It has given us the ability to easily spread good news and joy with just a few clicks.
But just like any tool, it is important to know the dangers and how to best use it to reach our goals.