An Injection of Emotion

I was doing my usual rounds through the social networks when I noticed the stark difference of emotions at play.

Twitter streams are filled with shared thoughts of humor, anger, arrogance, sadness and intrigue. While Pinterest boards visually focus on two very powerful emotions - love and desire.

But when I look at Facebook, I see effortless brain dumps of disparate content. Facebook is sharing in the purest form. They have made the act of sharing ubiquitous (‘Like’ button) and effortless (Open Graph). They have designed a product so efficient that we can’t help but share on it.

Facebook has sacrificed emotional connection in the quest to make sharing our second nature. While as engaging as ever, the product has the emotional depth of a paper resume.

It’s emotion that keeps Twitter and Pinterest so relevant and compelling in the face of Facebook. The effort you put into crafting and curating something meaningful helps develop an emotional bond between you and the product.

That could change with Instagram.

Instagram is a product emotionally connected to millions of users. I’m certain Facebook’s looking to learn from that. Some emotion should do them well.