 "Your Facebook usage is a mirror to your self esteem issues")
Your behaviour on social networking websites – especially Facebook – could be a telling indicator of your self esteem, a study has found. People who suffer from low self esteem are more likely to be concerned with what others are saying or posting about them on Facebook and are often found monitoring their feeds and Facebook Time Line, the study says.
The study, headed by Professor S Shyam Sundar, Co-Director of Penn State’s Media Effects Research Laboratory, studied the Facebook habits of about 225 South Korean university students. The results showed that people with low self esteem are generally more concerned about what is being posted about them while people with high self esteem spend their time updating their information and their profiles, instead.
Your Facebook usage talks a lot about your self-esteem (Image credit: Getty Images)
According to the study, even while these two sets of people spend an equal amount of time on Facebook, the way they spend it in is vastly different. It was even revealed that those with low self-esteem are likely to monitor their walls in order to delete anything that may portray them in a bad light. Those with high self-esteem would rather spend their time updating information like their education and work, or even information pertaining to their family on Facebook.
“The types of actions users take and the kinds of information they are adding to their Facebook walls and profiles are a refection of their identities,” said Sundar about the study. “You are your Facebook, basically, and despite all its socialness, Facebook is a deeply personal medium.”
The study even touched upon an important topic related to social networking websites – monetisation of the sites. Sundar, who worked with Jiaqi Nie, a Graduate Student in Interaction Science, said that this could show alternative ways of making money for social networks. Both groups use Facebook as an extension of their self-identity, the study said. Sundar is of the belief that because of this, they would be willing to pay for features like customisable walls or profile pages on sites like Facebook.
Monetisation of social networking websites, especially Facebook, has been a hot topic especially in the last few years when the site has turned into a powerhouse. A couple of months ago, Twitter’s Biz Stone too suggested Facebook come up with a premium plan to lure in customers willing to pay a few dollars to get access to extra features on the website. And now the Penn State study backs monetisation on those lines. Is it time for social networks to take it seriously?
(With inputs from agencies)
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