Hi Everyone

Creating my facebook entertainment page I have researched what similar pages are posting and what tools they utilize to increase viewership.  As network theory posits, the more 'Likes' your page receives the more connections it is creating, growing logarithmically as the power function suggests. 

As an entertainment site, my goal is to create a node and as likes increase and the network continues to grow I'm confident it will eventually grow into a hub where like minded people will post and like creating clusters of links producing more networks.

As a fun interactive page, Catastrophe, will not be buying likes as suggested in How to Buy Friends and Influence People.  That said, I can see why big business who have large budgets would find it attractive and comparatively affordable when you consider the exponential influence a 'Like' can bring.

One of the strategy's I'm employing for Catastrophe will be to employ the research into way to increase the number of likes with out having to purchase them. The journal article Antecedents of social presence and gratification of social connection need in Social Network Sites provides terrific insight into social network user motivation.  Han, Min and Lee found that gratification of social connections needs plays an important role in sustained use and this presence in enforced by immediacy and intimacy related aspects of the communication.  Therefore producing images and content that will re-enforce engender intimacy through laughter and immediacy of response to new posts will help build the number of 'Likes'. 

If you want your site to be rewarded with a 'Like' you have to have insight into your viewer's motivation.  According to researchers Chin and Lu, their study found " that if, concerning content posted on Facebook, the identity of the posters and the number of “Likes” triggered hedonic, utilitarian, compliance, conformity, and affiliation motivations in the users, there is a chance that motivation can be used to influence users’ attitudes in favour of clicking the “Like” button".  The question will be if Facebook were to employ a 'dislike' button how would that alter those positive interactions.  Would it become a repository for negative interactions and how will that effect your network?

References:

CHIH-YU, C., HSI-PENG, L., & CHAO-MING, W. (2015). FACEBOOK USERS' MOTIVATION FOR CLICKING THE "LIKE" BUTTON. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43(4), 579-592. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.4.579

Network Theory retrieved from:  http://www.slideshare.net/ervler/an-introduction-to-network-theory

Han, S., Min, J., & Lee, H. (2015). Antecedents of social presence and gratification of social connection needs in SNS: A study of Twitter users and their mobile and non-mobile usage. International Journal Of Information Management, 35(4), 459-471. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.04.004

Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2013/04/buy-friends-on-facebook/