The Facebook eye: What brands can learn from online narcissism

Just as a photographer develops 'the camera eye', so too social media users are developing, what Nathan Jurgenson calls, 'the Facebook eye'.

In an article posted on The Atlantic he describes how we are becoming increasingly aware of how our lives appear online and have developed a sense of what will generate likes, comments and retweets.

"Today, we are in danger of developing a 'Facebook Eye': our brains always looking for moments where the ephemeral blur of lived experience might best be translated into a Facebook post; one that will draw the most comments and 'likes'," says Jurgenson.

With the help of smartphones, we have become increasingly comfortable sharing our location, experiences and views with our networks. Despite the plethora of irrelevant food tweets and brain farts that still exist in social networks, our sharing has evolved and we have become progressively savvier in the types of information we share.

'The Facebook eye' can be a double edged sword for brands. Those riding high on the wave of cool will find an audience with ease as fans align their online personas, sharing, tagging and 'liking' information related to a brand.

On the flipside, 'liking' or sharing information from less-admired brands can be seen as detrimental to one's online image and may be avoided by this new breed of social media user, regardless of the user's personal sentiment towards the brand.

The growing phenomenon of 'the Facebook eye' reinforces the emphasis that should be placed on knowing one's audience and engaging in a way that produces positive outcomes for them. Knowing the sort of digital content that is conducive to being shared is now as much a part of public relations and marketing communications as knowing traditional news values.

The full article can be read on The Atlantic's website.