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food Internet

Social Media is just like Chocolate and French Fries

There’s an old adage about how french fries at the bottom of the McDonald’s bag always taste better than the french fries in the container.

Maybe that’s why FIVE GUYS loads up that fry bag with extra fries, because they know that the fries in the bag taste better than the fries in the cup.

It’s like BONUS FRIES!

So what do french fries (and chocolate – we’ll get to that in a second) have in common with Social Media?

Social Media is all about sharing and sharing experiences with others.  The more you share (or are shared with), then the more enjoyable your social media experience becomes.

The same holds true for sharing food, which is the finding in a STUDY BY ERICA J BOOTHBY (and friends) AT YALE UNIVERSITY that looked specifically at shared experiences and how sharing an experience will amplify the enjoyment (or non-enjoyment, whichever the case may be) for the people involved.

We’ve expanded on the french fry in the bag story above, and can agree that stealing a french fry off your dining companion’s plate actually does taste better than the fries on your own plate. Same thing holds true for when you’re sharing a bucket of popcorn at the movies. The popcorn just tastes better when you’re both reaching into the same greasy bucket filled with salted Styrofoam chips.

The study looked at two participants eating chocolate.  When they ate the chocolate together, at the same time, they ranked that chocolate to be more pleasing than when they later ate the EXACT SAME CHOCOLATE but were both engaged in separate activities away from each other.

The takeaway? Sharing chocolate (and sharing experiences in general) amplifies the enjoyment of those actions.

That’s why social media is such an addictive drug, that the sharing endorphins kick in the more you share and read about others’ lives.  Chocolate, french fries, Facebook — the more you share, the more you get out of the sharing action.