Ateneo De Naga University

Graduate School
(Sociolinguistics)

Topic # 5: How speakers use social networks (sites) to strengthen their identification with the social group to

which they feel they belong.

A number of theorists believe that interaction is a basic need and a compelling motivation of a man. The

belongingness hypothesis by Baumeister and Leary in 1995 proposed that generally, human beings need to

develop and uphold some degree of interpersonal relationships with other humans. Another proposition of this

hypothesis is that if a person can maintain at least a quantity of lasting and stable relationships, this could have

significant positive effects on their emotional patterns and cognitive processes. This premise is not all new, the

same supposition was the foreground of John Donne’s (1975) widely quoted line “No (person) is an island.

Furthermore, Abraham Maslow (1968) suggested the infamous Hierarchy of Needs in which the Love and

Belongingness are on the middle and are predecessors of Self-actualization. Thus, Maslow reinforces the notion

that human beings need to build strong and long-standing relationships with their fellow through continuous

interaction.

These theories and suppositions claim that a large part of a person’s development is reliant on the steadfast

connection they could create with other human being. Also, the claims emphasize that the need to bond is innate

and universal. The success of these bond would yield survival and reproductive benefits (Baumeister & Leary,

1995). Thus, many human beings tend to create groups that will help them in achieving these two important

factors: survival and reproduction. In this world where everyone is competing for the same resources, it is less

advantageous for someone to act lone fully. It is important to note however that if someone will belong to a

particular group, it should be familiar and cooperative. People who will look after that person’s welfare. Hence,

the creation of a person’s two kinds of social groups: primary and secondary.

There is distinctive difference between primary and secondary social groups. To illustrate, the first type

is where families and friends belong. They give the person a sense of self by face-to-face interactions. Normally,
these groups are small, intimate and long-lasting. The latter type however, are formed based on shared interests,

hobbies, or activities making it less personal than the first group. Considering the works of the different theorists

mentioned on the previous discussions, it could be concluded that a man should belong into these groups whether

he likes it or not. A man could be part of these groups for both survival and reproduction. Nonetheless, there is a

work to be done for a person to maintain his bond with the members of each group especially with the primary

because these are the people who are more likely to look after his/her welfare. Hence, the effort is more likely to

be intensive. On the other hand, a primary group starts with interactions with the secondary groups. If a person

can keep the people who are once on the secondary group for a long time, they will then upgrade their status to

primary group. Since belongingness and love are two things that are vital to human existence, people wanted to

make sure that the number of people on their secondary group are high. This will entail a higher number of people

to consider accelerating to the level of primary group.

An important factor in sustaining these relationships is the emergence of a conventional tool for

interaction: social networking sites. According to Technopedia, social networking site (SNS) is an online platform

that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. The online site

Dreamgrow.com released a list of the most commonly used SNS last July 19, 2019. Facebook, Youtube and

Instagram made it to top three.

With this on-hand socializing tool, how does a person use this to strengthen his identification to his target

social group? Henri Tajfel, 1975 argued that, in many situations in life, an individual acts not as an individual,

but as a member of a group they identify with. Consequently, he proposed the Social Identity Theory which might

be helpful in answering this substantial question.

According to Social Identity Theory, one implication of identifying with a particular group is that the

closer that individuals feel to a group (in-group), the more uniform their behaviour will be and the more likely

they will regard members of other groups (out-group) as being cut from the same cloth, ascribing negative

attributes to those out-groups.

to his target social group will try to align his/her behaviour as uniformly as possible to them. For an SNS user

who uses the website to socialize with a target social group, his/her opinion and language would be a reflection

of the social group. Applying this theory, a person might be able to connect with more people whom he/she

consider to be included in-group.

To illustrate clearly, let me use Facebook as the mostly used social networking site. A single comment on

Facebook can attract tenths if not hundredths of possible friends. If a Facebook user writes a comment about

something he/she likes, this will be seen by his/her friends. Now, since that user has his/her profile available to

the public, other people might take interest on him/her because of the shared interest. This will then create a

potential networks of connection just by a single comment.

The initial virtual connection which is made possible by social networks, in the example mentioned above,

can be transferred to in-person relationships (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). This mighty discovery generates the

formation of secondary groups and after spending sometime on the virtual world, the friendships cross the frontier

of cyber algorithms entering the threshold of the real world connection.

In conclusion, the satisfaction of basic human needs such as love and belongingness was made easy by an

ingenious invention named SNS. Consequently it is now an extremely easy task to create the groups that will help

a person fulfil his belongingness needs. A secondary group can now be effortlessly formed because of shared

interest which are publicize through SNS. The role of the language in this context is to be a malleable device in

building a firm secondary group which in time will turn into the a person’s primary group.

JACQUELINE V. CERENO
Master in Language and Literature
References:

Baumeister, R.F & Leary, M.R (1995). The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a
Fundamental Human Motivation [PDF file]. Psychological Bulletin, 497-499. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3dcc/3d262c08f8f4eb8f766ad72f06d580869309.pdf

Vincent, E. (2016). Social Media as an Avenue to Achieving Sense of Belonging Among College Students [PDF
file]. Vistas Online, 3. Retrieved from https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/social-media-as-an-
avenue.pdf?sfvrsn=8

Social Networking Site (SNS). (2019). Retrieved from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4956/social-

Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites and Apps [2019]. (2019, July 9). Retrieved from
https://www.dreamgrow.com/top-15-most-popular-social-networking-sites/

Social Identity Theory “How To Incorporate Social Influence Into Design”. (2014, July 25). Retrieved from
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/07/incorporating-social-identity-theory/