Humans Evolved to Like “Likes”

In an essay for The Wall Street Journal , adapted from his new book , BCG’s Martin Reeves examines the evolutionary roots of why humans are drawn to the “like” button on social media. He explains that the act of giving and receiving likes taps into deep neurological and social mechanisms, activating our brain’s reward system and our instinct for social learning. Reeves writes: “It’s just not possible for something to become so popular without connecting with something fundamental in our biology.”