Positive engagement: the measure of happiness in social networks

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It occurs in a person when he reaches a desired goal. And such is its importance in the human condition, that the United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals.

To celebrate this day, from Adglow, one of the most important Spanish multinationals of technology and advertising services in social networks, we wanted to analyze how this emotional state is also transmitted by social networks.

Happiness is contagious on these platforms: when a user publishes a positive contribution, it automatically improves the mood of the reader. This is indicated by the latest study by the University of California on publications on these platforms. Each positive publication generates up to 1.79 positive reactions, while the negative ones 1.29.

Emotions are the key that explains why some content triumph and others do not, which is why happiness has become a great place in the strategies in social networks of many big brands.

Publications that convey happiness are more viral, influence more and create stronger relationships among users: they increase the engagement rate that qualifies the success of contributions in general, or the advertising campaigns managed by Adglow in particular.

Through engagement, brands seek to foster relationships of trust, commitment and loyalty of their customers and reinforce long-term business opportunities. This anglicism basically defines the emotional bond that is built between fans and brands, and in social networks is nothing more than the degree to which a user identifies, interacts and emotionally links with a brand that follows.

Sharing good things produces more "likes" and positive reactions than bad or sad news. Negative content does not get as much interaction as the more cheerful content: people just comment, share or qualify.

It could be said that this type of publications cause a therapeutic effect for those who read them. According to this same research, seeing how publications "hung" in a social network are appreciated by other people and get many "Like" activates the same areas of the brain that are triggered when we eat chocolate.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, and in particular, for every happy friend we have, our chances of rejoicing are 9%. The more friends we have in these channels, the more likely we are to be happy. You do not believe it? Here's the study.