The Oxytocin we share

Apparently ‘Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love’,  I smiled to myself when I saw this article pop up on my newsfeed last week from Heather Snodgrass – because it confirmed a thought I have had a feeling about for a while now that playing in social networks makes our brains release happy feelings.

Neuroeconomist Paul Zak has discovered, for the first time, that social networking triggers the release of the generosity-trust chemical in our brains

Social networking has the ability to give us the same kind of happy hormones that we get from the euphoric feeling of being in love.  I.e. The social web can make us happier people.  All because of a little hormone called Oxytocin.

I am a massive romantic, I gush over romantic movies and love nothing more than curling up with a good old chick lit novel.  These are my single girl soppy indulgence, as I dream that one day I can too find the most amazing Mr Right who will chase me to the airport when I am about to leave in a heated moment of, what I believe to be unrequited passion, only to feel my heart flip as I see him at the top of the escalator waiting  to declare his undying love. We’ll live happily ever after running a beautiful winery and have a dog called Dudley.  A girl can always dream.

In real life though, love has its ups and downs, there isn’t always that feeling of ultimate high.  Relationships require emotional investment on a whole layer of levels and sometimes that can be hard.  The honeymoon period nirvana certainly doesn’t last forever.  But do social networks provide us with an easier place to get the high?  If it gets too hard with one person, doyou go find your happy hit from someone else?  I thought about this idea in a bit more depth in Belonging and the Social Web.

Coincidently, the lovely Rachel Beaney also wrote a great post about this same article, pondering over the dangers of Internet Addiction and I just wonder is if the constant seeking of the next connection hit that’s driving that?

As someone who is a bit of an internet and social network addict I can sympathise with this because I kinda live it in all honesty.  It’s always been something I have loved and probably invested too much of my time in since my early MySpace days which was the first time I reached out and made connections with new likeminded people who otherwise, were complete strangers.  But, although our online relationships are great, they should never truly replace the real life moments we share (and I know I would definitely rather have Mr Right here in the flesh).

Overall, I am fascinated by this research  and the thought there could be an interesting opportunity for brands to understand this scientific emotional benefit for people in the future.

As Zak and others deepen their study of oxytocin, we may better understand why people with friends live longer and get sick less, and why we are compelled to be social animals online and off. If these changes apply in the world of social media, the implications for business — for every brand, company, and marketer trying to understand the now intimately networked world — could be significant. Yes, there may be a dark side to all this: What if corporations come to understand human behavior and its root mechanisms so well that they can manipulate our biochemistry to trick us into buying more?

But whilst I think it’s interesting, the thought of a corporation messing with my Oxytocin levels does freak me out a bit, so while I curiously watch to see what will come of this research I echo Beaney’s thoughts to “keep it real”, and just make sure we aren’t just getting our only happiness fix from a virtual world.