The Real-Life Like Button


What compels us to share things on Facebook/Twitter/etc? A study at Penn tells us that when an article evokes a "high arousal" emotion (anxiety, amusement), we're more likely to share it. That's not too surprising, right, but the cooler part to me was the corollary study in which people read a neutral article while either sitting or running on a treadmill. The people who were running when they read the article ended up being more likely to share it.
So we should all be running all the time? Because running elevates your mood and you're more likely to share when you're happy? Or just people who run are more likely to be disoriented and lightheaded, clicking buttons to and fro?

I think there should be actual "Like" buttons on physical things out in the world. Big, blue, glowing things that make pleasing noises when you push them. They could read your fingerprints and synch to your account. And when you're at a certain store, you can just hit this giant Like button on the wall. Or if you like a certain kind of car, you can hit the button on that car. If you see a famous person, you can like them on their forehead.

I don't know, but then maybe the runners would go around liking/sharing tons of stuff while they're out and about, and Mark Zuckerberg could get rich. Then he would issue everyone free blue running shoes in the mail, and on and on and on.

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