The Psychology Of Facebook

One of the best things about psychology is that it can be applied to everything we do in life. I thought about this as I spent a disproportionate amount of time on Facebook this week promoting the new blog. Facebook easily makes up an hour of my time every day (if not more). Chatting to friends, liking clever memes and commenting on photos is fun, easy and highly addictive. Because I'm from the USA but currently live in England, it also helps me keep up with all my friends who live in far flung parts of the world in a very tangible way that email just never seemed to live up to.

But is all this 'connectedness' healthy? As I said, on some days I procrastinate a lot of work playing around online. I've also had the odd falling out with friends and family members over Facebook activity. I can also remember how much it hurt to unfriend former romantic partners at the end of a relationship. So what can psychology tell us about Facebook and its place in our social world?

When we think about 'why' we use Facebook, Adam Joinson (2008) identified key gratifications motivating Facebook use. Joinson found that key reasons for its use included social connection (commenting on friends), shared identities (belonging to social groups like university graduates), content (playing Facebook games like Farmville), social investigation (Facebook stalking), social network surfing (viewing others' profiles) and status updating. Ellison, Steinfield & Lamp (2007) alternatively suggested that Facebook is a place where we hold 'social capital'. Through maintaining social capital with old friends in previous communities (whether geographic or social) individuals can maintain their social roles and importance despite being in a different geographic place.

Too much of a good thing though, is always something to be wary of. Tong, Van Der Heide, Langwell and Walther (2008) warn that an overabundance of friends reflects negatively against us. After all, if you randomly add friends because of Farmville or The Sims, or just because Facebook suggested you should be friends when you actually aren't, what is the actual nature of these 'friendships'? Tong et al. suggest that there is an 'optimal number' of Facebook friends we judge for, and that those with too few friends or too many friends are perceived more negatively because of it.

However, one study stands out more in my mind than any other. Tara Marshall's (2012) study on Facebook surveillance of ex-partners takes a space for everyone who has experienced the trauma of breaking up in real life and online. After a break up, many people try to remain friends on Facebook so they can 'keep tabs' and check-up on their ex-partners activities with others. Marshall found though that this impacts our ability to move on tremendously. In her study, participants who monitored their ex's Facebook activities experienced high levels of distress and negative feelings with an inability to 'move on'. Alternatively, those who defriended their ex on Facebook reported less negative feelings, longing and desire for the ex-partner.

Facebook psychology (if such a thing should dare to exist) is a fascinating and easily quantifiable aspect of social psychology. However, it is incredibly sensitive to fashion, business and changes in policy. As a general rule, social psychology can only measure what is going on 'now' as it's impossible to question people in the past. This means behaviour changes as time moves forward.

The current newsfeed for Facebook isn't good these days; stock shares opened eerily low and current policy changes are very unpopular with Facebook users (charging for status updates?!?). Will moves such as these inspire people to leave Facebook for a newer, sexier, better social website?

While psychology results can be fascinating, it is questionable just how lasting these results are going to be for the future. It definitely seems as though there is no leaving social media but that doesn't mean that we won't leave Facebook.

Has anyone heard what Myspace is up to lately?