Human nature in the socialsphere

Sometimes it’s a good idea to reflect on why something has worked. If it’s a commercial venture, say, social networks like Twitter and Facebook, you may have to start thinking about the human psyche.

In order to begin any sojourn into the values of human nature we have only to look at the most recent ‘hit’ in the media. On the third of May, Emmanuel (Lolly) Jackson was murdered by a business associate. This was fairly big news because controversial people tend to be more interesting to us humans; but beyond the event itself, was the news event and corresponding media frenzy.

‘Hulk’ Lambo

It started on Twitter. About an hour before the above article was released by News24.com, Twitter was alight with Lolly Jackson posts. News24 released a five line article several hours after the Twittersphere had already started to make jokes about Lolly’s murder. 

Indeed, by that time I had already asked the Twittersphere if I might have his ‘Hulk’ Lamborghini.

Being that Twitter is now the seventh most visited site in South Africa, with 55 000 users, it’s really no surprise that Lolly’s murder was splashed all over Twitter before the mainstream media could even order a lap-dance. This again proves the wisdom of the twitter crowd; Twitter users knew that this is big news that should be broadcast and it went viral long before South African media even had a chance to corroborate. The 'wisdom' then, lies in the fact that the Twittersphere demanded to know the full story, forcing the news media to release the facts they had. 


If nothing else, thousands of people talking about a single subject tells news media what people want to know about. In theory, this cuts out a whole chunk of time for editors to delegate stories; just check to Twittersphere and provide the news (with all the checked facts) that the people want. Surely this makes for a happier audience?

Morbid Curiosity

Could this be a clue as to why social networks have become so successful? Morbid curiosity in other people’s daily affairs? It could well be that social networks are successful for the same reason that advertisers’ favourite line is “sex sells!”

Private lives are meant to be just that – but thrusting (pun intended) them into the public sphere makes them delicious forbidden fruits which are all the more juicy when combined with a bit of stardom or controversy.

Success is like sex

Social media seem to work because humans are social beings; but we’ve also managed to get ourselves in a difficult situation. Because there are just so damn many of us, we’ve had to spread around the whole planet; because we’re all over the place we had to develop ways of staying in touch because all humans want to know what the other humans are doing all over the world.

This is an argument for the genesis of the modern form of globalisation. 

Forms of communication may have developed and revolutionised leading us into social networks, but the highly private nature of the content of those communications hasn’t changed much.

But much like telling high school kids not to smoke or Rihanna’s new song (which I can’t listen to without feeling very embarrassed, yet keep listening), telling people something is bad, or trying to make something personal just makes them want it more.

Much like Lolly Jackson (RIP) realised, sex sells – even on social networks. 

Thanks to 姒儿喵喵 for the wicked pic. Follow 姒儿喵喵's photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/.