The Next Web published an article “Does Social Media Make Us Nicer People?” by Martin Bryant.
Let’s Heal – company from Amsterdam complied research. A study of 24k consumers from 16 countries (US, UK, Russian, Japan, Germany, Italy, etc.) found that:
those who are most connected, living on the cutting edge of social media tend to be more ‘prosocial‘ than average, being more likely to do volunteer work, offer their seats in crowded places, lend possessions to others and give directions.
Have you ever wonder what ‘social media’ is all about? I think it’s about sharing, about making connections and communication. Before “social media’ we didn’t feel that comfortable with sharing or making so many connections…and now we feel that it’s natural to share information for free, to share knowledge for free or at least part of it. Free ‘samples’ are everywhere. It’s natural to connect with others all over the world/internet no matter whether you are CEO or unemployed – what you have to do is simply send an email, invitation on Linkedin, follow on Twitter, or ‘like’ on Facebook.
If you want to learn something, you don’t have to go to school and pay for courses, all you have to do is search online for free webinars. Although I am not saying school is bad. Year or two years ago Bill Gates said that the future of education will be on-line – that school as institution won’t be that important, that knowledge is everywhere and people will search for it on-line.
I think that because people are sharing data/knowledge/information all over the internet (whether it’s something simple or complicated) we feel that we should pay it forward/share something with others too. If I got something for free I feel I should give something for free to somebody else…and that’s how all that sharing on-line starts. And sharing something with others and receiving something from others makes us maybe just a little bit nicer, more open to others. Whatever it is – it’s good. 
