We were at a conference on global media trends last week and one of the speakers really caught our attention.
He was talking about no longer segmenting audiences using traditional techniques, and that it’s now all about social connections. When he mentioned the word ‘homophily’ there was a surge of note writing, so when we got back to the office, we did a little more research… Homophily (i.e., love of the same) is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others.
Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace are obvious examples of places that promote like-minded individuals bonding with each other. For many people, these social networks are playing an increasingly important role in developing relationships, be they professional or personal. With this in mind, this article examines the effects of emotional homophily in social networks site messages. Well worth a read.