When you think of how to flirt online, you probably aren't thinking about Twitter or Facebook, but it turns out we respond more positively to social media updates from the opposite sex in a blind test. According to PR Week, Artios, a marketing agency, blind tested 1,000 UK adults using anonymized blank text from social media accounts and then evaluated them based on a variety of factors, like trustworthiness, approachability and friendliness. And, even when they didn't know the actual identity of the author, they found that people responded more positively to posts written by the opposite sex.
When it came to posts written by men, 40 percent of females responded positively versus 38 percent of men. With posts written by women, the difference was higher: 33 percent of responded positively versus, 28 percent of men. It's also interesting to not how much higher the positive responses to men were overall, among both sexes. According to Atrios' Andreas Voniatis:
"By presenting the content in plain text, absent of any social or personal context, we were able to get a different measure of its impact. Often, content that was well received in its original context came across negatively when participants didn't know the origin. Conversely, some content that was received badly at the time of publishing was received favourably when taken in isolation."
It's not the first time social media revealed things about relationships and how we interact with others. Here's what social media can mean for you and your partner:
1. Twitter Can Cause Relationship Strife
Researcher Russel Clayton looked at how often people updated their Twitter account and found those who did so frequently were more likely to argue with their significant others because of their use of the site, says The Telegraph. I can't imagine what a fight about a tweet would look like, but I assume it's more than 140 characters.
2. Too Much Relationship-Based Social Media Updates May Show You're Insecure
Ouch. So research out of the Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin showed that posting loads about your relationships doesn't happen when you're so happy you just have to share it or you might burst. In fact, it's just the opposite. People were actually more likely to show off their relationship online when they "felt more insecure about their partner's feelings." So the next time you're annoyed that your friend posts her wedding photos up every effing year on her anniversary, maybe cut her some slack.
3. Twitter Conflict Can Lead To Cheating
Social media may seem petty, but Clayton found there can be some very real (and very big) consequences. When Clayton was studying relationships and tweets, he also found that those Twitter-induced fights can lead to "emotional and physical cheating." So think before you tweet.
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