FOMO is Attributed to Social Media Addiction

Consumers in America are so addicted to their social media networks that they would rather get a root canal than surrender their social network profiles.  Their main reason? FOMO: fear of missing out.

Social media marketing is growing in importance for small businesses. Seventy-three percent of small businesses are using social media to get their messages out because it enables instant connections with clients, customers and potential employees

How strong is that compulsion?  Nearly 40 percent of the respondents agreed they would rather do any of the following than give up their social networking profiles:

• Wait in line at the DMV
• Read “War and Peace”
• Do their taxes
• Give up an hour of sleep each night for a year
• Run a marathon
• Sit in traffic for four hours while listening to polka music
• Get a root canal
• Spend a night in jail
• Clean the drains in the showers at the local gym
• Give up their air conditioner/heater

Shocked?  Millennial social media users (between 18 and 34 years old) have an even worse case of FOMO. More than half of them – 54 percent – would undertake one of these onerous activities rather than give up their social media profiles.

Go ahead, read between the lines.  That means your customers are constantly using social media to interact with each other.  If you are not using social media to interact with your customers, you are missing out.

“Consumers are bombarded with so much information online—from status updates and photos to tweets and check-ins—that our anxiety around ‘missing out’ has shifted to our digital lives,” said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife. “The fact that many people would rather run a marathon or spend a night in jail than give up their Facebook or Twitter account is proof positive.”