Facebook Is A Social Networking Site

The article “Examining Students’ Intended Image on Facebook: ‘What Were They Thinking?!’” by Joy Peluchette and Katherinne Karl focuses on their research on the reasoning behind the inappropriate Facebook posts of college students. After their research they conclude that the posts of students completely depends on the specific way the student wants to illustrate themselves to their intended audience. Peluchette and Karl strengthen their argument with frequent use of various statistics and transition words; however, they weaken their argument with choosing a topic that can not be fully prove and the lack of in-depth thinking.

One danger that is often overlooked by social networking users is social comparison. The phrase “social comparison” refers to the idea that people determine their own self-worth through evaluating and comparing themselves to others. This is especially prevalent on social networking sites. Users of social networking sites often strive to make their lives seem perfect. In order to achieve this, users will only post their “highlights” or positive points in their lives. One author states, "When you're on a site like Facebook, you get lots of posts about what people are doing. That sets up social comparison — you maybe feel your life is not as full and rich as those people you see on Facebook,” ("Social Media: Does social media have a positive impact on the world?"). However, it is not the fact that the users may unintentionally be posting only their highlights that could be potentially dangerous. Rather, it is the fact that another user may compare their own life to another user’s. For example, a user could be scrolling through a site and see another user’s highlights and begin comparing their own life to the other user’s. As a result, a user could start to develop a lower self-esteem. Their sense of self-worth may also be damaged in the process. This obsession of one’s self-image can have severe consequences such as feelings of depression or loneliness ("Social Media: Does social media have a positive impact on the world?").

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) offers infinite connections and the ability to express oneself to the world. But are these connections and images of self-based upon fact or fiction? Through selective self-presentation, people often present the “ideal self” instead of the “actual self” in the online environment to achieve the feeling of positive self-esteem. In “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am”, Peggy Orenstein writes of how her Twitter posts reflected an idealized version of her life. Two studies support the hypothesis that such editing can have a positive effect on personal self-esteem. “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem” by Amy Gonzales presents a study demonstrating

Recent research has documented how technology, and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Instagram) in particular, have given rise to a growing obsession with impression management and self-presentation online. Whether it’s searching for the perfect Instagram photo filter or carefully crafting a humblebrag Facebook status about a recent publication, users frequently engage in selective self-presentation strategies to portray an ‘ideal self’ through social media (Chou & Edge, 2012; Manago, Graham, Greenfield, & Salimkhan, 2008). In turn, we seek out social approval and positive feedback in the form of comments and likes.

Nowadays it is not uncommon that almost everyone has at least one profile on some sort of social networking site. The reason? To not feel left out. We post online to share what we are doing and how we are feeling. However, social media has influenced us in ways that were not initially planned. Our identities, the concept of what makes you, yourself. Identities are constantly evolving due to social media. We are posting online to make good impressions on the people who follow us. We snap photos and add filters to make ourselves look and feel better. Maybe someone will comment! What if nobody does? Do I delete it? These are constant questions and concerns that go through peoples’ minds during the time they post content. I know those questions run through my head each time I click the share button. It’s almost like we need validation from others for us to be ourselves. When I post, I wait to see the reaction of others, will they like it? When others post, I am constantly comparing myself to them. We are constantly comparing and evolving. Exactly like our identity. Our lives are increasingly more public now more than ever.

The purpose or hypothesis of this study addresses the anatomy of the Facebook network, communication behaviors and network composition, private messages and public communication, and the psychological implications of Facebook use.

Living in the 21st century requires one to stay current with latest technological advancements. Ever since the development of social networking sites, people are now able to create a carefully-crafted identity for themselves. This has led psychologists to question how well these online personalities match the person in front of the computer. The innovative branch of media psychology looks into how social networking portrays individuals and initiates human interactions within a society.

Facebook, a social networking website, has changed the way people communicate with each other. A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Facebook has even changed our most personal and private conversations and how they are conducted around the world. Since the internet’s birth in 1983, this trend of online communication has been growing. Created in 2004, now registered with more than one billion participants, Facebook’s user numbers surpass even the top four social networking websites combined. According to Wikipedia statistics, Instagram has 300 million registered users, LinkedIn has 200 million users, Classmates.com has 50 million users, and Flickr has 32 million registered users. To be further convinced of the claim that Facebook indeed changes the way we communicate, you would only need to create your own Facebook account and start participating in their social networking experience. Technology and internet usage is fused into every aspect of our society including the style of communication. The launch of Facebook in 2006 also enabled other devices such as touch phones, interactive tablets, and even advanced cars with their own networking capabilities starting in 2007. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar company and is highly recognized for connecting more people than other networks. Facebook’s long-term success can be attributed to providing entertainment, world news, and

There are two possible ways that the use of social networking sites can affect a person’s self esteem. According to a study conducted by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffrey T. Hancock, Facebook helps amplify students’ level of self-esteem. They explained in their study that when people post something on their profile, they have the opportunity to filter the negative information that they would not like to be exposed, and only publicize the information that they consider as positive. By doing this, people can build an ideal image of themselves online, which consequently increase the level of their self-esteem (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011). On the other hand, the study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which

Facebook users establish profiles of themselves presenting, their likes, dislikes, relationship status, political affiliation, a profile picture and various other features. They have the ability to thoughts and opinions, or share what activity they are currently engaged in. Users also have the ability to share comments on their friends profile pages or share articles, photos, video and other media. The experience of using Facebook is enjoyable and it is a great way to keep in touch with family, friends, acquaintances and even strangers. The problem is with the overuse of Facebook. Access to social media websites, specifically Facebook has encouraged and increased narcissistic behavior. The purpose of social media is to connect users with each other by sharing experiences, but the overuse of this media causes users to focus on themselves excessively, nurturing narcissistic traits. People tend to share the more attractive photos of themselves, or share the more interesting parts of their lives. This can give an impression that they live a very different life than they do in reality. After a short time, it may be easy to tell what types of posts gain the most likes, or inspire the most conversation. People are inclined to showcase their best qualities, and may unconsciously desire to make other users envious of their self-presentation and

With the widespread popularity of Facebook, people worldwide are becoming more involved online and this is changing the self-perception of many consumers. With social networking sites we are granted a feeling of validation and importance through how we interact online. Facebook is one platform that does this extremely well and this may be the reason why it has attracted (and kept) so many users. Facebook allows users to belong to certain “networks”, join “groups”, “like” interests, and share their thoughts with the world through status updates. These features all help users to feel validated by their friends and others whom they connect with. This is important because it facilitates what is known as self-categorization for the user. “Self-categorization theory focuses on the set of group norms that define

It is said that one can tell a lot about a person by looking at their Facebook page. People find them selves looking at other individuals Facebook profiles and consciously or unconsciously make assumptions of the individual’s personality. This research conducted by Zorana Ivcevic and Nalini Ambady from Tufts University, examines exactly that and serves two main reasons. The first basis of the paper is to examine the type of information that is most heavily weighted when making judgments of individuals on Facebook profiles. The second goal is to test the accuracy of the judgments based on Facebook profiles with relation to everyday and online behavior. They reviewed the sources of information used in making personality impressions based on claims solely on the Info section on Facebook. The reason behind this research is to find what kind of information people utilize in making their judgments through the Facebook Information section and the overall judgment behavioral accuracy.

With evolving technology comes new types of social media, people have begin to question the internet’s effect on our mentality. It is a bit difficult to compare the pros and cons of social media, it has more to do with an individual’s experience.  Some could be having a horrible time due to social media, but others could be thriving off of it.  The more negative implications of using social media could be the way that we share our personal lives and how much of it we give to the public, regardless of social relationships, to consume.  Along with this, we are deeply impacted by what we see from others based on our viewing of what they share because of the ability to create falsified identities and unrealistic interpretations of who we are

Social media use is one of the challenges that young adults face regarding their self esteem levels. Findings from Youth Central stating that 62% of young people felt that social media and advertising in the media impacted their self esteem levels in a negative way (as cited in Berman & White, 2013). Social media profiles are often well constructed and also well thought out, and often only show and emphasize the positive characteristics of either the user themselves or the life that he or she lives (Woods & Scott, 2016). Viewing profiles that are well constructed can be linked to a decrease in the self esteem of the viewers, because of the view that he or she is

Women lurk on a man’s page seeking for their materialistic items such as cars, money, and the way a man dresses. Instances such as these causes low self-esteem of individuals who do not portray these specific items or lifestyles on social media. USA Today asked 23 Chicago college students about social media and 20 out of 23 students believed social media caused anxiety or added stress to an individual’s life. One female college student believed that social media adds a lot of pressure to be the perfect person, because that’s how individuals can make themselves look online. A lot of women on social media with low self-esteem issues show their skin and wear revealing outfits to feel “better” about their own body by taking into account how many likes on Instagram or Facebook they receive. The college students have realized it was easy to portray a different version of them on the internet. Individuals believe the number of likes on Facebook/Instagram or retweets on Twitter is used as a tool for verification for acceptance within their group of peers. This can cause a domino effect of problems on an individual’s self-esteem. An individual will post photos that are outside their character just to seek approval through the likes from their peers. This may boost an individual’s self-esteem temporarily, but once he or she logs off social media their self-esteem really hasn’t improved. Valkenbur, P. M., Peter, J., & Shouted, A. P. (2006). Friend