Why News Feeds Are Crucial to Social Media Success

To have access to the Internet is to be familiar with the news feed. In the slim chance you’re unfamiliar, a news feed is an online space where you can scroll through a list of posts about the different people, and events in your social network. Every version of social media boasts some kind of news feed setup. They all have an option for you to see what people are doing, saying, or feeling. Even apps like Venmo (for money sharing), or LinkedIn (for business networking) have a news feed space, where you can see what everyone else is doing on the site. What is it about news feeds that are so appealing?

Connectivity
Since the incoming of the millennial generation, people are accustomed to, and obsessed with, knowing what all the people in their social network are doing. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter rely on news feeds to keep you up-to-date on your friends’ daily lives, and major events. The ability to scroll through a string of posts, and get immediate information about what is happening to those around you, is appealing to a generation increasingly obsessed with having a hold on their social group’s whereabouts.

Comparison
People in the technology age are inherently nosy. We love knowing exactly what other people are doing, wearing, and even thinking. News feeds give us quick details that satisfy this nosiness, though many of us use them for comparison’s sake. You can easily scroll through a list of posts, and compare your beach vacation to your coworker’s, or the cuteness of your dog to your aunt’s new puppy. A news feed gives us the ability to fulfill our need for comparison, and get immediate affirmation about just how good our lives are.

Convenience
Ultimately, gathering information from this format is just easy. By scrolling through a newsfeed, a viewer gets a new bit of information every few seconds, appealing to the ever-shortening attention span. Quickly checking the news, and seeing what the people in our area, and social network are up to, involves minimal finger movement, minimal time, and minimal attention. In a population increasingly interested in being more efficient, and more productive, a news feed is the quickest option for satisfying our need for information.

Keep on Scrolling
Ultimately, all the news feeds you’re seeing on your Android apps reflect a demand for constant information, updates, and access. It’s what people are looking for! In the age of staying connected, there couldn’t be more options, and yet, more and more social networks arrive every year.

If you are looking to have a few more news feeds in your life, check out our blog posts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.