Why social network is the new tobacco ?
(en français ici)
Sometimes, marketing just needs to rename a product, and the story repeats (or matrix glitches). I will tell you about the strong parallels between social networks and tobbaco.
The Art of micro-satisfactions
The goal of social networks is to play with social human needs. Just like the tobbaco, which plays with our nicotine addiction, social networks play with our addiction for social gratitude and with our fear of being alone. In the case of social networks like Facebook or Twitter it is the photos, comments or likes that bring a sort of micro-affection and gratitude for the user and these micro-affections are then generating micro-satisfactions. Like for any addiction, the need of micro-satisfactions grows more and more day after day.
The addiction to tabacco like the addiction to social networks is due to the simplicity and the immediacy of these micro-satisfactions. Publishing like smoking needs only few minutes and very not much reflexion. Whereas a true gratitude like an important project or an award winning take many years and a log of works. Micro-staisfactions make everyone feel a heros during a wink. We feel the same happiness from smoking a cigarrette or publishing a post, because in both cases we concede to an humain dependancy addiction.
Same Marketing
Become a leader
Mainstream adversing tell us about more welfare or just show us a sexy girl as only sell argument. In many case, we are alone in this ads. Maybe there is a group, to compare the customer awsomeness to the regular people in the group. Advertising for social network like advertising for tobacco try to show us that their product could help us to beyond to a special group, and to become the leader of this group.
In Phillips Moris advertises, customer takes out proudly a cigarette to became the charismatic leader. Now this charismatic leader takes out proudly Facebook App to take a selfie (a selfie group by default). Both Advertises try to reach young customer and show them they could the center of the world by using the product.
Make praxis
The marketing trap is more efficience when habits are taked with their products. We scroll Facebook wall during break exactly like we take out a cigarette to smoke. We don’t ask a lighter to a girl to start the talk, we prefere start by Messenger. We take snap food before eating with the same habit we go outside to smoke at the end of the meal.
Social network addictions and Tobacco addictions seem the same and are backed on praxis in day to day behaviour which make more complicated to stop.
Same market
Furthermore, an other parallel exists. Both market (tabacco and social network) are oligarchy. Only few firms hold the whole market. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Google represent social market. And China National Tobacco, Philip Moris, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco represent tobacco market.
To conclude
After one century, cigarette is see like dangerous for humain. Associations and gouvernments try to stop tobbaco, but dommage is done. Many people has sick due to tabacco and habits are to strong to stop.
Will we repeate the same mistake, and wait a new century to see the harmfulness of social networks ?
