The two sides of social media friendship - Presentation at GOR 2016

The two sides of social media friendship

Positive and negative outcomes of making ‘friends‘ in social networks

C. Bosau & A.K. Bosch

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However ....

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But ....

GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship

Two main research perspectives

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Positive effects Negative effects


Two main research perspectives

8

Purpose of the study: Combiningboth research questions


Former results

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What we already know:• Number of friends in social networks is associatedwith higher subjective well-

being (Kim & Lee, 2011) - however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear• Positive feedback on social networks lead to higher social self-esteem and via

that to more subjective well-being (Valkenburg, Peter & Schouten, 2006)

• Likes can increase the self-esteem and life satisfaction (Bosau & Bosch, 2016)

Though:• The more people use social networks the more they think „others are happier

and having better lives than I am“ (Chou & Edge, 2012) • More friends in social networks create higher stress levels (Maier, Laumer ,Eckhardt &

Weitzel, 2014)

Main question:Does ‚making friends‘ in social networks finally lead tohigher or lower subjective well-being?


The study

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Former studies:§ looked at either the positive outcomes or the negativeoutcomes

This study:§ combined both perspectives of positive andnegative outcomes of having a hugenumber of friends in social networks

§ used an SEM-approach

Method:• Online questionnaire (posted via Facebook, mailing-lists and personal

emails, partly snowball sampling) in 2015• N = 143• age: < 18y = 2,1%, 18-23y = 23,8%, 24-28y = 54,6%, > 28y = 19,6% • male = 40%, female = 60%• Non-student = 66%, student = 34%


The scales

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Number of friends

Self-Esteem - scale(german version of Rosenberg, 1965)

Intensity of usage (hours per week)

The independent variable:

Perception of others‘ lives (PoOL) - scale(german version of Chou & Edge, 2012)

The mediating variables:

Satisfaction with life (SWL) - scale(german version of Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985)

The dependent variable:

Likes got


The SEM-Model

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SWL

Amount ofLikes

Usageintensity

Self-‐Esteem

Numberof friends

PoOL

the positive effect

the negative effect


Friends & usage intensity

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Independent variable: friends• „Wie viele Freunde hast Du in Deiner Facebook Freundesliste?“

• Mean: 462 friends, SD: 417

Mediating variable: intensity• “Wie viele Stunden in der Woche verbringst Du Zeit auf Facebook?“

• Mean: 8,4 hours, SD: 7,8


3,72

3,80

3,87

3,90

3,98

4,03

4,03

4,16

4,17

4,37

1 2 3 4 5

Ich$fühle$mich$von$Zeit$zu$Zeit$richtig$nutzlos$(reversed)

Ich$wünschte,$ich$könnte$vor$mir$selbst$Achtung$haben$(reversed)

Ich$besitze$die$gleichen$Fähigkeiten$wie$die$meisten$anderen$Menschen$auch

Alles$in$allem$bin$ich$mit$mir$selbst$zufrieden

Ich$habe$eine$positive$Einstellung$zu$mir$selbst$gefunden

Ich$besitze$eine$Reihe$guter$Eigenschaften

Ich$halte$mich$für$einen$wertvollen$Menschen,$jedenfalls$bin$ich$nicht$weniger$…

Ich$fürchte,$es$gibt$nicht$viel,$worauf$ich$stolz$sein$kann$(reversed)

Hin$und$wieder$denke$ich,$dass$ich$gar$nichts$tauge$(reversed)

Alles$in$allem$neige$ich$dazu,$mich$für$einen$Versager$zu$halten$(reversed)

Self-Esteem

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Mediating variable• scale of Rosenberg (1964), German version by Ferring & Filipp (1996)• scale: 5 = „trifft völlig zu“ vs. 1 = „trifft gar nicht zu“• Cronbach’s α = .89• Mean: 4,0, SD: 0,63


1,99

2,08

2,96

1 2 3 4 5

Viele%meiner%Freunde%haben%ein%besseres%Leben%als%ich

Viele%meiner%Freunde%sind%glücklicher%als%ich

Das%Leben%ist%fair%(reversed)

Perception-of-Others‘-Lives & Likes

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Mediating variable: PoOL• scale of Chou & Edge (2012), translated into German

• scale: 5 = „trifft völlig zu“ vs. 1 = „trifft gar nicht zu“

• Cronbach’s α = .58 (without Item 1: α = .84) à low α tolerated because ofheterogenity of the index

Mediating variable: Likes• “Wie viele Likes erhälst Du in der Regel in Bezug auf Deine Aktivitäten in Facebook?“

• scale: 5 = „sehr viele“ vs. 1 = „sehr wenig“

13,00

28,00

82,00

20,00

0

25

50

75

100

sehr%wen

ig

wen

ig

mittelmäß

ig

viele

sehr%viele


3,24

3,26

3,52

3,55

3,69

1 2 3 4 5

In#den#meisten#Bereichen#entspricht#mein#Leben#meinen#Idealvorstellungen

Wenn#ich#mein#Leben#noch#einmal#leben#könnte,#würde#ich#kaum#etwas#ändern

Meine#Lebensbedingungen#sind#ausgezeichnet

Bisher#habe#ich#die#wesentlichen#Dinge#erreicht,#die#ich#mir#für#mein#Leben#wünsche

Ich#bin#mit#meinem#Leben#zufrieden

Satisfaction-with-life

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Dependent variable• scale of Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin (1985), German version by Glaesmer, Grande, Braehler & Roth (2011)

• scale: 5 = „trifft völlig zu“ vs. 1 = „trifft gar nicht zu“• Cronbach’s α = .84• Mean: 3,5, SD: 0,70


Descriptive results

Zero-Order correlations:1 2 3 4 5

1) Number of friends

2) Amount of likes .29***

3) Usage intensity .23*** .10

4) Self-‐esteem .04 .16* -‐.07

5) Perception of others‘ lives .06 -‐.13 .06 -‐.48***

6) Satisfaction with life -‐.01 .14* -‐.12 .61*** -‐.57***

Correlations already support the hypothesizedmodelto a great extent


Measurement-Model

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SWLS

Chi-Quadrat (132) = 216.4, p < .01;; CFI = .920 ;; RMSEA = .067 ;; SRMR = .067

Amount ofLikes

Usageintensity

Self-‐Esteem

.66 .74 .61 .56 .55 .60 .62 .78 .82 .81

.81

.64

.82

.70

.50

.97 .75 .15

Numberof friends

PoOL


Finally: The SEM-Model

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SWLS

.66

Chi-Quadrat (186) = 326.7, p < .01;; CFI = .873 ;; RMSEA = .073 ;; SRMR = .132

Amount ofLikes

Usageintensity

Self-‐Esteem

.74 .61 .56 .55 .60 .62 .78 .82 .81

.81

.64

.82

.70

.50

.97 .75 .15

Numberof friends

PoOL

.29*** .18*** .57***

.23** .17** -.37***

GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship 20

Ø Facebook is a kind of „double edged sword“

• ‚making a lot friends‘ increases the social support and the likelihood of likesAND

• Likes increase the personal self-esteem and by that also the life satisfaction

Though:

• More friends need more attention and take more lifetimeAND

• Looking more at friends‘ profiles make people feel worse and make them think thatothers are better off à and by that lower the life satisfaction

Conclusion

People have to manage the trade-off between joy anddepressionwhen using Facebook.


• Bosau, C. & Bosch, A.K. (2016). Kann Facebook-Nutzung glücklich machen? – Die Bedeutung von Likes für das eigene Wohlbefinden und den Selbstwert, 20th congress of GWPs (Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftspsychologie) in Hamburg.

• Chou, H.T. & Edge, N. (2012). “They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than I Am”: The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others’ Lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 15 (2), 117-121.

• Diener, E.D., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J. & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of personality assessment, Vol. 49 (1), 71-75.

• Ferring, D. & Filipp, S.-H. (1996). Messung des Selbstwertgefühls: Befunde zu Reliabilität, Validität und Stabilität der Rosenberg-Skala. Diagnostica, Vol. 42, 284-292.

• Glaesmer, H., Grande, G., Braehler, E. & Roth, M. (2011). The German version of the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, Vol. 27 (2), 127-132.

• Kim, J.K. & Lee, J.R. (2011). The Facebook Paths to Happiness: Effects of the Number of Facebook Friends and Self-Presentation on Subjective Well-Being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 14 (6), 359-364.

• Maier, , Laumer, S., Eckhardt, A. & Weitzel, T. (2015). Giving too much social support: social overload on social networking sites. European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 24 (5), 447-464.

• Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. • Valkenburg, P.M., Peter. J. & Schouten, A.P. (2006). Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents’

Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, Vol. 9 (5), 584-590.

Literature


Thank you very much for yourattention!

Contact details:

Rheinische Fachhochschule KölnProf. Dr. Christian Bosau, Dipl.-Psych. & Master of HRM & IRSchaevenstraße 1a/b50676 KölnTel.: +49 221 20302-0e-mail: christian.bosau@rfh-koeln.de

Slideshare: cbosauTwitter: cribocologne

The two sides of social media friendship - Presentation at GOR 2016

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