Image by miliquin
Esteem, usually partnered with the word “self”, sits near the top of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, just below self-actualization. As we continue this series of posts about the intersection of social media and the different types of human needs, we’re going to take a look at esteem and see if social media can help you build esteem, both within yourself and back to the rest of the world.
First, the definition of esteem, as per dictionary.com:
Noun: favorable opinion or judgment; respect or regard: to hold a person in esteem.
Here’s a way to paraphrase the dictionary definition of esteem:
Esteem: being respected and well thought of, both by yourself and other people, while according that same good will towards other people.
Maslow’s hierarchy shows that there are five aspects of esteem.
Here are my thoughts on what these aspects are:
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is when you have a favorable opinion or judgment about you. In many ways this is about liking and respecting yourself. If you feel worthy, you have positive or good self-esteem.
Confidence
Confidence is the belief in your abilities to perform well, to do the right things. Confidence (or self-confidence) means that you can think and act without hesitation because you have the assurance that you are thinking and doing the right things.
Achievement
This is all about getting stuff done: finishing projects; and creating new things. This seems to link closely to the self-actualization level of Maslow’s hierarchy, particularly creativity and problem solving.
Respect of others
Respect of others is the consideration of the rights, thoughts, and feelings of other people.
Respect by others
When other people respect you, they will give due consideration of your rights, thoughts, and feelings
What’s the key to building esteem using social media?
To me, the way that you can fulfill these aspects boils to three things:
- Do good work and share it (achievement, confidence)
- Help other people and win their trust (achievement, respect by others, confidence)
- Be considerate of your fellow human beings (respect of others)
If you repeat these things over and over again and get positive feedback, your self-esteem will grow but only if you believe that you are doing the right things. If you don’t believe that you are trying hard enough, giving enough, and growing enough, your self-esteem might not build as much as it could, so belief is a big, unstated component of self-esteem.
So where does social media come in?
Social media is a tool by which you can do these things and can augment your offline activities. Social media’s powerful capabilities for communicating with people, publishing content, sharing ideas, and helping each other lend itself towards achievement, respect by others, and respect of others.
There are endless ways to publish content, either in blogs, forums, discussion groups, photo sharing, video blogging, and so on. There are endless people to communicate with, help, and learn from. This activity, knowing that you are doing good work and helping other people learn and grow, builds confidence and self-esteem as we’ve seen in Maslow’s hierarchy diagram. It’s a great proving ground to help you feel better about who you are and what you can do.
And, on top of all that, interacting with other people, learning about them and seeing their skills in action, can help you better appreciate and respect them.
In my opinion, these things help fulfill our esteem needs and set the stage for us to take the next steps toward self-actualization.
Do you agree or do you think I’m full of crap? Does this level of Maslow’s hierarchy have any meaning to you? What do you think?
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I'm impressed with your assessment. It's been a time of self actualization and change for me lately.
“If you don’t believe that you are trying hard enough, giving enough, and growing enough, your self-esteem might not build as much as it could, so belief is a big, unstated component of self-esteem.”
I never feel like I'm doing enough. Partly because I initially sought approval of others. I no longer am focused upon pats on the back for a job well done. I just know I did my best. Whatever it was.
Coming to this resolve has allowed me to better connect and assist those who are supportive and has been a guide to eliminating those who have a different set of directives than I.
Looking forward to your next post. Good job.
I think you're onto something here. When people begin doing things online (blog, twitter, etc) they're often self-conscious to the extreme. They take on hidden identities, hide behind avatars (though I still love my King Moonracer). In any case, as they begin to relax and become more of who they really are, they step up the ladder.
I'll put it another way. When I had 50 followers on Twitter, I used to worry about what I said. Now I have 800 and I just try to have fun.
Thanks for your comments, Kim. It's hard, sometimes, to move past the need for external acceptance. I know I haven't completely moved passed it! Glad to see that you're moving forward, though.
That's funny, in a way, because having larger audiences can make people more nervous. I know that I'm sometimes more self-conscious when I see my subscriber/follower numbers grow.
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