Why Do People Follow Social Media Trends?

Recently, an emerging issue has arisen that people on social media are following various types of patterns, such as replacing the profile image with an unusual frame and using multiple slang words in the form of several types of emoji to be unified with those on social media. It has been growing quite alarmingly lately.

Different trends have been implemented in social media like Facebook in the last few months, such as using photolab to change the image's pattern and style, avator a Facebook feature to make an individual's emoji. In the last couple of days, this pattern has inundated Facebook. Nowadays the following trends have gained enormous prominence in various social media platforms.

Have you ever think about this issue? Why this is so happening? Are we controlling by other people’s behavior and choices? Is it good or bad for us? I think most of the answer will be ‘NO’. So it is time to rethink about this important issue. 

There are different types of theory found which explain why we follow the trends. But the most relevant and reliable theory to explain this phenomenon is called the “Bandwagon Effect”. Moreover, there is a branch of social science known as “Social Psychology” which also explains why we follow social media trends. 

The ‘Bandwagon Effect’ means that the more people believe a certain concept or engage in a certain behavior, the more likely other people are to follow in their footsteps and do the same. The bandwagon effect can therefore become a large-scale social phenomenon, and affect the way in which crowds shape their behaviors and beliefs. Therefore, when someone does some activities such as following trends on social media, others also trying to do so and then it spreads very rapidly among the other people who are on social media. Then, it acts like a bandwagon effect and gone viral within a moment. It clearly indicates that our behavior, choices, and other lifestyle pattern are controlled by others.

The individuals around us have a huge impact on our lifestyle. We don't care about whether it is good or bad for us when we follow the pattern. We only forget our confidentiality. In Bangladesh, in particular , social media developments are growing quite rapidly. If it persists in the same way it will be a threat to our culture and invade our privacy on social media as well.

Social Psychology, on the other hand, is "the empirical study of how we think about, affect and relate to each other." This means that when a group follows the trends, other groups are often motivated to follow the same, this is known as group polarization. We follow social media trends through the mechanism of group polarization.

Different news items are reported in the newspaper on the safety and security problems associated with these phenomena. Sometime, a third party could be able to steal your personal information and fall you into a trap. So how do we stop being unanimous on this deleterious activity? There are several ways to prevent this.

• Slow down your critical reasoning process

It takes time to rethink the pros and cons of those trends while making the decision to pursue        trends. That means that you can slow down the rational thinking process and take a final decision afterwards. To prevent the Bandwagon Effect, it is the best option.

• Set up standard criteria for decision making

Follow some standard criteria to make the decision while using the social media platform. Think first, act thereafter. 

• Choose alternative option

If you see some trends are going on, try to choose alternative options which will help you to abstain from using the trends.

• Verify the security and safety issue

Verify protection and safety issues by using trends to shield yourself from the negative effects of trends in social media.

It is high time that this critical topic should be regarded. And it might be devastating for the Bangladeshi people in the future. The best tool to obstruct this issue may be to create awareness among users of the social network. Let's follow the 'conscious people' trends.

Writer

Md Billal Hossen

MS student

Faculty of Biological Science

Islamic University, Bangladesh

Email: [email protected]