The Psychology Behind Bookmarks on Social Media

I’ve been thinking lately about the power of bookmarks in social media marketing.

Bookmarks are a better vanity metric than likes. That’s not to say that likes aren’t important. When I see that more people have saved my content than liked it on Instagram, I feel like I have a deeper connection with them, and that the content was so good that they thought they might need it again one day.

Elon Musk even said that Twitter will roll out a public statement allowing us to analyze bookmark tweets from the tweet details page. These bookmarks will be treated as “quiet likes” and will increase our likes counter.

What if we started analyzing the psychology behind bookmarks instead of just counting likes?

Bookmarks are important for a few reasons:

1. They tap into the human need for organization and planning.
2. They satisfy the need for self-expression.
3. They are a sign of trust and credibility.
4. They show users value content and plan to refer back to it.
5. Marketers can use this as a sign of engagement.

That’s why I believe bookmarks are a better vanity metric than likes.

✏️VISUAL

Bookmarks better than likes

Don’t just create content. Create creators.

Perfection is the enemy of innovation.

🧱BUILDING IN PUBLIC THIS NEWSLETTER

This week, I worked on my newsletter landing page. After a few quick drag-and-drops and copy-and-pastes, I asked the Twitter community for their thoughts. Here are the results:

🔥️WORTH A CLICK

Take a look at these

❇️ The Nostalgia Effect. How to use nostalgia to create a social movement [Spotify Case Study].

❇️ Kim Kardashian, a Harvard professor? The playbook Kim and her family used to master the delicate art of outrage marketing. [Twitter thread]

❇️ Ignore purpose-driven marketing at your own risk.