Essay on Importance of Emotions in Social Networks

In the past few years since the launch of Twitter and Facebook, social media has risen to become a global phenomenon with more than 2 billion people using the services daily. As a result, social media has become a central topic of study especially in regards to its connection with emotions. As we know, feelings are the motivators of our thinking and behavior, and such a force can bring us together or push us apart. That makes emotion very central about our highest hopes and deepest fears regarding the social media. Many social media movements such as the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter attribute got fuelled by emotions (Yang Guobin and Jonathan 3). Emotions in the social media vary according to the incident in question. For example, when a celebrity of world icon dies, the sadness we see people expressing in the social media gets fuelled by emotions. Emotions also encompass the happy lives we live or the jealousy we feel when friend posts about his or her success in the social media. As this thesis suggests, emotions dictate our day to day lives. They also dictate how we relate to each other making it one of the dominant components of the social media.

Within the confines of psychology, the debate about the definition and nature of emotions continues to rage on with various scholars offering different answers. Emotions get traditionally described as tight, well-coordinated and automatic physiological, psychological and behavioral responses to specific things in the evolutionary environment. Some examples of emotions include fear which encompasses the need to escape something terrifying and disgust which covers expelling an impurity be it tangible or psychological. In general, we can conclude that basic emotions represent particular universal adaptations that promote survival instincts in a human being. About the social media, people experience emotions people interpret their internal state according to the effects their surroundings have on them. It is from that observation that we ascertain the claim that emotions vary according to their culture and beliefs. Most of the times, human beings free their emotions by giving an automatic and tightly coordinated response visible in their words, actions, signatures and even facial expressions.

Emotions have a distinctive relationship with the social media especially Facebook and Twitter. The social media is a broad and constantly evolving platform for internet-based communications and entertainment. It allows people to communicate with each other over long distance, access information and even communicate with business entities and organizations which maintain an online presence. The platforms named above are part of the social network sites which according to a commonly cited definition, allow people to form profiles within the system, communicate with others who have similar patterns and lastly view the profiles of other people and entities in the system (Thelwall Mike and Georgios Paltoglou 5). By the year 2011, social sites became organized within feeds advert streams of content that warranting the updating of the definition above. The updated description included the ability of users to produce, interact, and consume content generated in the sites. Nevertheless, all the above services are contained in a more general class known as computer-mediated communication.

In both social media sites, people broadcast different content for their friends to view. The same way, companies use the platforms for product promotion, the creation of awareness, advertise or just get to know their customers and supporters better. In the process of broadcasting such information, people display different emotions such as like, love, joy, amazement, sadness, anger, disgust among others. That is why a platform such as Facebook includes specific annotations to showcase the reaction of the user at that particular time. Often, you will see people post about meeting new friends, traveling, buying favorite products and other significant moments in their lives. You will also see them express the feeling they have in a stream that they relate with at the moment.

Self-presentation, as well as emotional expression, form the basis of research when it comes to social media. Some theories such as the polyvagal theory provide various suggestions about how people should present themselves in the social media (Porges 2). Nevertheless, the evidence for this studies remains underdeveloped mainly because there is no basis for comparison when it comes to the social media. Additionally, other reviews try to break down the emotions that stimulate a person to share information and create virality. They suggest that arousal rather than valence is the primary stimulant and motivator for sharing.

As much as the use of emotion in social media brings about many opportunities, some challenges come with it warranting its avoidance at times. For example, a great deal of the audience you may have in the social media is invisible and unknown to you. It makes it hard to come up with decisions on what is socially appropriate thus undermining the essence of communication. The social media encourages people to discuss the private aspects of their lives with people they know nothing. In the process, that blurs the boundary between he private and public nature of information concerning our lives (Derks Daantje and Jasper 7). Often people end up coming up with some ways to respond to the above challenges. People crate specific images around them and end up struggling to live up to the expectations even in real life. As the issue of privacy rages on, scholars have raised the discussion about privacy paradox in social media. People have different definitions of privacy and how to go about it. Privacy creates boundaries thus protecting people from unwarranted posts and streams that may evoke negative emotions.

Basic Principles of Emotional Communication

Emotions have evolved and become communicative actions. As a result, emotional expression gets shaped by socialization processes, and the primary elicitor of most emotion is interpersonal communication. With regards to that, schemata affect how and when emotions are communicated and portrayed by human beings. An inherent feature of emotional experience is the emotional expression, and a single emotion generates other emotions and interaction chains. Emotional communication revolves vital questions. They include how are you feeling now? How do you know you are feeling that way and lastly how you communicate those feelings to your audience?

A fundamental principle of emotional communication us the fact that emotion can either be primary or blended. Primary emotions encompass basic feelings while mixed emotions include the combination of many primary emotions. From that, we get to see the third principle which suggests that emotions attribute their influence from the body, mind, and culture. Additionally, emotions are either adaptive or maladaptive. Adaptive emotions assist a person in adjusting appropriately to a specific situation while maladaptive emotion gets in the way of accomplishing one's goals and mission. It is clear that feelings either work for you or against you depending on the initial response to a problem. Moreover, emotions have strategic applications. That means a person can manipulate emotions for his or her ends. Scholars refer to the situation as manipulation saying a person can take advantage of another persons emotions for personal benefits (Leathers Dale and Michael 5). People employ the use of verbal and nonverbal cues to communicate something. Lastly, all feelings have consequences. Revealing emotions disclose specific information about you to the audience. Resultantly, it is essential to be extra careful to ensure privacy dominates during communication. The last principle states that emotions are contagious. In the social media, a happy person ends up influencing those commented on having the same feeling. Angry comments and posts warrant harsh responses from the audience.

Work Cited

Derks, Daantje, Arjan ER Bos, and Jasper Von Grumbkow. "Emoticons and social interaction onthe Internet: the importance of social context." Computers in human behavior23.1 (2007):842-849.

Leathers, Dale G., and Michael Eaves. Successful nonverbal communication: Principles andapplications. Routledge, 2015.

Porges, Stephen W. The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions,attachment, communication, and self-regulation (Norton Series on InterpersonalNeurobiology). WW Norton & Company, 2011.

Thelwall, Mike, Kevan Buckley, and Georgios Paltoglou. "Sentiment in Twitter events." Journalof the Association for Information Science and Technology 62.2 (2011): 406-418.

Yang, Guobin, and Jonathan Pace. "Emotions and social movements." The Blackwellencyclopedia of sociology (2007).