In the world of social networking, are people's actions more influenced by their close friends or by those that are merely just a facebook friend and nothing else?
Every single one of my closest female facebook friends took some Sex and The City quiz and sent me invites to take the quiz myself. I have ignored each request. It wasn't because I’m not a fan of SATC or of taking quizzes. I own almost every episode of SATC and taking personality quizzes is actually (embarrassed to admit) one of my favorite unproductive things to do online. I didn’t even bother to see their quiz results. These are girls I talk to on a frequent basis offline. I spend a lot of time with them. I know them well. I value their opinions and recommendations. They know that if they call me up to grab a drink with them after work, I’ll want to go. Then why would I reject their invite to take an online quiz? Why do I reject 90% of the application download requests they send me?
On the other hand, my best friend attended an event a few weeks ago, of which he heard about through a status update of one of his facebook friends that isn’t a real life friend.
My guess. I already know which SATC girl I’m most like and I already know which SATC girl each of my close girlfriends are most like. We are real world close friends so we have common interests, common conversation topics, etc. My best friend went to an event he probably wouldn’t have heard about from a close friend offline. This facebook friend whom he has never met in real life is less like him. Thus more likely to do different things, go to different events and offer new information. I have many commonalities with my close friends, but also some differences. If one of my close friends loves to go clubbing, but I don’t, she’s not going to convince me to become a clubber chick through a twitter feed. If I had any interest, she would’ve convinced me a long time ago already.
There are a few other factors to keep in mind. 1) This fb friend that twittered about the event is what people would call a leader and my best friend is a fan. 2) The event does fit into his realm of interests. 3) The event wasn’t a major decision that would majorly impact his life. I doubt he would choose a doctor based on her recommendations.
On the other side, some people may have the persuasive power to get others to do something only because of the way the request was framed. For example, I added the party app because my close friend sent me the request “I like partying with you? Do you like partying with me?” I really wasn’t interested in adding the party app, but I can’t really tell my friend that I don’t like partying with her, can I?
Who influences YOU online?
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