Did you realize that social media happens to be perfectly structured to tie into the way the human brain works by feeding our desire to acquire more information? It does.
And it all has to do with a chemical in the brain called dopamine. Not only that, but it can lead to click addiction.
Your Brain on Social Media
I was always under the impression that dopamine production in the brain was related to the feeling of pleasure. However it turns out that, according to recent research, dopamine makes you addicted to seeking information.
You really should click through and read that very enlightening article.
Seriously. Go read it. We’ll wait here.
OK. Have you read it? Good.
Now let’s move on.
Because that whole thing makes sense too when you look at what Wikipedia has to say about Dopamine, learning, and reward-seeking behavior:
Dopamine is closely associated with reward-seeking behaviors, such as approach, consumption, and addiction. Recent researches suggest that the firing of dopaminergic neurons is a motivational substance as a consequence of reward-anticipation. This hypothesis is based on the evidence that, when a reward is greater than expected, the firing of certain dopaminergic neurons increases, which consequently increases desire or motivation towards the reward.
Did you get all that? Me neither.
But after you boil off all the blah, blah, blah academic-speak here’s what I think it all means.
Because social media comes at us unexpectedly in short bursts of information, it is ideally suited to stimulate dopamine production in our brains. And the dopamine makes us want even more information creating a feedback loop that can lead to click addiction.
That’s probably why some of us can get so distracted when we go into Facebook to check on something and end up spending waaaayyy too much unproductive time in there. It also partly explains why social media has become the incredibly powerful force on the internet that it is.
Not only that, but it also makes it likely that social media will be with us for a long, long time to come.
Business Implications
What does all this biochemistry research mean to us as business owners? It means there is yet another reason why we need to be actively engaged in social media in a sound, systematic way to support our businesses.
I don’t know about you, but I want my business to be on the receiving end of that dopamine induced loop. Fortunately in my case it already is.
We’re seeing the benefits of that social media induced dopamine click addicting feedback loop because I have long practiced the principles and strategies I teach in my New Media Profit Path video courses. I know my strategies work because I’ve got years of personal experience and direct client experience using them.
And now we have some scientific research that explains why the things we do work. Go figure.
It’s amazing what happens when we market our businesses in harmony with the way the human brain is wired. Good stuff!