Facebook and self-esteem
By Liz Lockhart
Social networking has become popular with generations of people across the world. Teenagers keep in 
touch with friends and grandparents keep in touch with grandchildren via social networking sites. However, a word of caution, a new study suggests that using Facebook may be harmful for people with low self-esteem.
Facebook facilitates the sharing of information that the user considers important to solidifying friendships and making new friends which should, in theory, be good for people with low self-esteem. The study found that people with low self-esteem are inclined to flood their friends with negative information about their lives and the researchers suggest that this makes them less likeable.
The study was conducted by Amanda Forest and Joanne Wood of Waterloo University, both are studying how self-esteem affects the kinds of emotions people express. ‘We had this idea that Facebook could be a really fantastic place for people to strengthen their relationships,’ says co-author, Forest.
Forest and Wood questioned students about how they feel about Facebook, in one study. They found that people with low self-esteem were more inclined to feel that Facebook gives an opportunity to have contact with other people. They also see it as a safe place where the risk of awkward social situations is reduced.
The two researchers then reviewed what had actually been written on Facebook by the students. The students were asked for their last 10 status updates. They found comments such as ‘(name) is lucky to have such terrific friends and is looking forward to a great day tomorrow’ and ‘(name) is upset because her phone got stolen’.
The status updates were then rated by the researchers, according to how positive or negative it was. To do this each set of statements was allocated a coder (an undergraduate Facebook user) who rated how much they liked the person who wrote them.
It was found that Facebook users with low self-esteem were more negative than those with high self-esteem which resulted in being liked less by the coders. Forest says that she feels that because the coders were strangers it makes them more realistic. Wood and Forest had already found that almost half of Facebook ‘friends’ are only acquaintances or strangers but not close friends.
It was found that when people with low self-esteem posted positive comments on Facebook, they got more responses from their real friends. However, people with high self-esteem got more responses when they posted negative comments. This may be because these are less usual for them.
‘If you’re talking to somebody in person and you say something, you might get some indication that they don’t like it, that they’re sick of hearing your negativity,’ Forest says ‘On Facebook, you don’t see most of the reactions.’ In other words, when people feel negative about a post on Facebook, they seem to keep it to themselves.
Source: Association of Psychological Science
