The Psychology of Connectivity: Follower Counts and Identity

Information exchange is embodied in the sharing model which originated as a simple communal gossip session. On a digital platform, the network reached by communal gossip is enormous. Sharing in the virtual world builds self-esteem and confers virtual status where power is synonymous with follower counts on social media and generates a feel-good dopamine spike. But sharing is accompanied by comparison, judgment, anxiety and fear, only assuaged by additional self-revelation. The psychology of sharing creates a flywheel of ever-increasing exchange resulting in massive digital content.