Humans spend 1.3 million years worth of time on social media per month. Whoa. It's no surprise that social networks have become the most important frontier of online publishing and marketing. It's also changed the way we interact with one another and communicate. It's changed political protests, civil rights movements, how we shop, and even, I argue, how we think. Yes, the actual neurochemistry of our brains can, and has, been altered by the Social Media Revolution. So let's talk about how social media changes our brains. Let's talk about these neurological mutations that we are all experiencing together, and what it means for usage -- and success! -- on the fastest growing platforms of our age. Let's talk about social neuromarketing.

1. SOCIAL NEUROMARKETING
Your brain is obsessed with social media. And,
believe it or not, that’s actually not a bad thing.
@alexlwall
#SOCIALBRAINS

3. The internet is the first thing that humanity has
built that humanity doesn't understand… the
largest experiment in anarchy that we have
ever had.
Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google

4. Everything changes your brain
Everything from kicking a soccer ball to pouring coffee changes your brain.
That goes double for repetitive behaviors. (Get it?)

5. Multiple Types of Brain Changes
Sociological Neurochemical

6. Sociological Ramifications
“Everything exists to end as a photo.”
Susan Sontag

7. Facebook Eye effect
• Data chunking
• Applies to all social platforms
• How we see our lives

8. Sociological Ramifications
• Reinforces “ambient awareness”
– Invisible dimension of data applied to every day
life, but not drawn from every day life
– The world becomes a global village, where
everyone has access to the details of others’
intimate lives.
• Documenting the experience becomes part of the
experience.
• “Social proofing”

9. Social Media as a Drug
The accessibility of data and the constant, piece-by-piece
stream of it makes our working memories lazy, and increases
our extended dependence on using the platform.

10. - White matter abnormalities in orbito-frontal cortex
- Linked to executive thinking skills, emotional processing,
and cognitive function.
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD)
Neurologically Identical to Drug
and Alcohol Addiction

11. Neurological Ramifications
• Each piece of information releases
dopamine, which encourages repeat
action.
– Checking for notifications becomes a “fix”.
• The more stimulus the brain receives, the
more difficult it is to parse through
information that’s important and that
which is not.
– Advertising messages become lost unless
they are precisely targeted and speak
directly to the brain.

12. Social Media Physically Changes
the Gray Matter in your Brain

13. Online Interaction Neurologically
Superior to Offline Interaction?
• More friends and
followers = more grey
matter in 4 areas of
the brain.
• Only 1 area of the
brain, the amygdala,
is increased by offline
interactions.
• The other 3 are only
activated by online
connections.
• Grey matter is the
layer of brain tissue
where mental
processing occurs.
• Basically?
– Facebook increases
the amount of tissue in
our brains that
processes information.
• Put that in the win
column.

14. Basically: We are culturally and
chemically programmed to get excited
about interacting.
• Validation through
these self-extensions
(likes, comments,
interaction)
becomes crucial,
and lack of it is seen
as a threat to the
organism.
– No matter what you
say, your old brain loves
seeing those
notifications.

15. The part of the brain that is always on is the part interested in YOU and
OTHERS.
When inactive, the brain defaults to these regions – basically, thinking about
itself and other people.

16. The brain is so hard-
wired for social activity,
positive social habits
have a more positive
impact on overall
health than the
negative effects of
smoking, poor dieting,
etc.

17. Cyborg anthropologist Amber Case studies how people upload their
bodies and internal space into the internet, and how “humanness” is
produced through machines.
She calls this the technosocial self and explains that our machines,
devices, and profiles have become external hard drives for our
brains.
Social as an extension of ourselves.

18. What have we learned that we
can use?
• Social is an excellent platform for
interactive education, crowdsourcing
brand development, and forming a
strong sense of community.
• It hampers our ability to remember by
acting as external hard drive.
• Our brains are adapting to deal with
the constant flow of stimuli.

19. How Brands (Should)
Navigate Social’s Impact on the
BrainDevelopers
• Utilize gamification
(dopamine
marketing).
• Include notifications –
the brain feeds on
that.
• Allow users to share
data and discoveries
with one another.
Advertisers
• Hyper-targeting is
crucial.
• Stand out, be
memorable, appeal to
the Reptilian brain.
• Don’t lecture; have a
conversation.
• Create a community.

20. @alexlwall
#SOCIALBRAINS