It’s always fun to do research, but it’s even more fun when people find what you do interesting. We have had a lot of attention for the Facebook work that our group of stalwart student researchers have done over the last year and a half or so. The most recent recognition comes from HealthDay’s Alan Mozes, with whom I enjoyed a nice conversation this week about our work. Alan asked me to comment on an article in the 2/17 online version of Psychological Science by UT Austin’s Samuel Gosling and his colleagues. The researchers found that people’s Facebook profiles are actually quite accurate.
Our Student Research Continues to Generate Interest
These results, which Gosling said were surprising to their group, were actually quite consistent with our own, which have focused on the relationships between feelings of loneliness and Facebook use by college students. We have found that the image of people constructing some alter ego online that is vastly different from who they really are just hasn’t worked for social networking sites like Facebook. Our participants who are very lonely are not compensating for that by spending more time online or seeking to amass huge networks of friends. Facebook seems to be WYSIWYG, literally.
I suppose the down side of all this attention is that we have to stop tweaking our data (we’ve improved our questionnaires from last year’s APS presentation and are collecting more data and running more analyses) long enough to finalize our papers for publication. Sometimes it’s hard to fit that in with midterms and grad school apps, but I want the students to really be involved with all steps of the project. Stay tuned!
7 Comments
dennislee · February 23, 2010 at 7:57 pm
It’s really interesting to see that Facebook, which was once just a website that distracted college students, is now a topic of academic study and research. I remember only a few years ago Facebook was only available to college students, and it basically just allowed you to leave messages and see pictures of friends who went off to other colleges. It’s kind of crazy to see how big it’s blown up and that it has caught the attention of researchers. From what I’ve seen among my own friends, I definitely agree that most people’s Facebook pages reflect who they really are and don’t portray a completely different alter ego. Some of my friends who are more talkative and transparent seem to be consistently updating their profiles with new photos and statuses, and actively comment on other people’s pages. While on the other hand, there are others who are more shy and reserved, and really don’t show much Facebook activity. I think the reason why Facebook profiles are more realistic to the owner than not is that people really aren’t going on Facebook to meet new people. Unlike going to a new school or moving to a new city, people aren’t going on Facebook to reinvent themselves. I feel like the vast majority of people’s Facebook friends are people they are actually friends with or have met in person before. Similar to how it wouldn’t make sense to portray a different character around your friends, it doesn’t seem to make sense to overtly portray yourself as someone you’re not on Facebook. Facebook really seems to be more of a place to keep up and catch up with friends rather than an escape from who you really are.
BethShirley · February 23, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I’m curious about the criteria in this study for honesty. To say that people’s facebook profiles are accurate makes the assumption that what people tell you about themselves in person is accurate. For example, on my profile, I say that I am looking for friendship. The option is there to add that I am also looking for dating, a relationship, or random play, but even though the first two of these may be true, I have left off on the honesty. I’ve noticed that this is a trend among many facebook users. Why? Because if you are actually looking to be dating or in a relationship, one of the worst things you can do is appear desperate enough to actually let people know that you are looking for it, especially if you are a girl. Being satisfied with your singleness makes you seem confident and aloof. So, are we being honest on our profiles by saying we are looking for friendship? Yes. Are we also being a little dishonest by holding back on incriminating information? Yes. It may be more accurate to say that people’s facebook profiles are consistent with their in-person observed profiles. If you were not one of my closest friends, I would tell you in person that I am just looking for friendship, just as my facebook profile says I am.
Honesty is a tricky thing. It’s all too tempting to portray yourself in the way you want to be seen, with or without the aid of social media.
I wonder also if part of the consistency between social activity and facebook activity is that facebook has become so much a part of our generation’s social lifestyle. It’s how we communicate. It’s how we know who’s dating, who’s popular, who’s a gossip, etc. And it’s easy enough for people to fall right into their regular pecking order of social behavior. In the face of popular, talkative peers being popular and active on facebook, it may seem normal for shy people to continue to be shy.
Jyso · February 24, 2010 at 6:16 pm
It is interesting to to hear the data about lonely people not turning to facebook in order to compensate for a lack of social connection or face to face bonding. It almost seems like a natural response to try something less personal like facebook or myspace to fill the void of not being able to connect. This would decrease the risks involved with social interaction due to an ability to avoid huge emotional investment or at least face to face letdown. In a way, it could easily act as a buffer for emotions. Nothing would feel as good or hurt as bad as real life. In fact, it almost takes on an avatar-esqce feel where one has a substitute who can act in their place with a feeling of less consequence. So i guess what i’m saying is that my first inclination is to think that lonelier people would utilize facebook and other networking sites but when faced with the points that i’ve just made, it realllllllllly does sound hollow and shallow. I can understand why it wouldn’t work.
DanielleFitzsimons · March 2, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I would say that my facebook is a pretty good representation of who I am but I definitely leave some things out of it. For a default picture people usually put up the very best picture of themselves, we want to show the world how we look at our best, not our typical everyday self. You can also “untag” a picture of yourself that you don’t want others to see. So you do somewhat have control of your appearance but I believe that other parts of facebook are a good representation of yourself.
MaddieFoster · March 4, 2010 at 10:30 am
I agree. The person I am on facebook is a rough image of the person I truly am. However, it can be hard to tell the actual values of people through a profile. My life consists of much more than my friends from high school that I never talk to or the questions people answer about me. Seeing someone in person after viewing their profile should be a surprise and not a disappointment. That should be the ultimate goal: to one-up your profile.
amber.ullo · March 13, 2010 at 9:24 am
Facebook has definitely come a long way since it first stared. I don’t think i know one person today that doesn’t have one. I think that facebook can be a somewhat good representation of who a person is, not only by their pictures they post, but also by the things they post and write on their friends’ pages. Personally i think my facebook is a great representation of me because i always post random pictures with my friends and just have a good time with it instead of worrying about how i look.
Laura’s Psychology Blog » Interview on SvD about Facebook and Loneliness · August 25, 2010 at 9:22 am
[…] millions of online friends just doesn’t apply in this situation. We presented our data at the 2009 APS annual convention, and after tweaking our instruments a bit more this past year, our paper is currently under […]
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