The Facebook Craze

Some questions I’ve asked myself recently are: What motivates millions to spend time on Facebook every day? What makes it so popular, even addictive?

There are many possible explanations to these questions, but an answer may lie in our fundamental need to maintain our self-esteem and feel socially included.

Facebook is designed to monitor and share information about the self with others, such as hobbies, pictures, likes/dislikes, “status updates” and “wall posts.” So why do millions of people constantly feel the need to update their statuses or pictures?

According to Leary, Terdal, Tambor & Downs (1995) the self-esteem system is a Sociometer, involved in the maintenance of interpersonal relations. Therefore, Facebook may be a tool for monitoring one’s inclusionary status – for example, how many people have ‘liked’ your status, commented on your pictures or written on your wall.  

It may also be used as a way of protecting oneself from social rejection and exclusion – such as by making sure you are constantly up to date in your group of friends and invited to popular groups/events.

Furthermore, a recent study by Gonzales and Hancock (2011) found that viewing and editing your Facebook profile could boost your self-esteem.

According to the Hyperpersonal Model, Facebook allows users to selectively self-present themselves; we carefully select which comments and images make our wall, and what items should be deleted or untagged. Hence, we represent ourselves in our most positive light, thus increasing our self-esteem.

The above study found that the highest reports of self-esteem came from participants who used Facebook, in comparison to those who looked at themselves in the mirror. 

Therefore, using Facebook may not be such a bad thing; as we work towards our notion of our ideal self by editing our profile, we may also working towards boosting our self-esteem. Over time we may eventually incorporate this online positive image of our selves into our self-conceptions.

References:

Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my facebook wall: Effects of exposure to facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology. Behavior, and Social Networking. 14, 79-83.

Leary, M., Tambor, E., Terdal, S., & Downs, D. L. (1995). Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 518-530.