Social Comparison and Facebook: Feedback, Positivity, and Opportunities for Comparison

Auteur-es

Moira Burke, Justin Cheng, Bethany de Gant

Nombre Auteurs

3

Titre

Social Comparison and Facebook: Feedback, Positivity, and Opportunities for Comparison

Année de publication

2020

Référence (APA)

Burke, M., & Cheng, J. (2020). Social Comparison and Facebook:Feedback, Positivity, and Opportunities for Comparison.

résumé

People compare themselves to one another both offline and online. The specific online activities that worsen social comparison are partly understood, though much existing research relies on people recalling their own online activities post hoc and is situated in only a few countries. To better understand social comparison worldwide and the range of associated behaviors on social media, a survey of 38,000 people from 18 countries was paired with logged activity on Facebook for the prior month. People who reported more frequent social comparison spent more time on Facebook, had more friends, and saw proportionally more social content on the site. They also saw greater amounts of feedback on friends’ posts and proportionally more positivity. There was no evidence that social comparison happened more with acquaintances than close friends. One in five respondents recalled recently seeing a post that made them feel worse about themselves but reported conflicting views: half wished they hadn’t seen the post, while a third felt very happy for the poster. Design opportunities are discussed, including hiding feedback counts, filters for topics and people, and supporting meaningful interactions, so that when comparisons do occur, people are less affected by them.

Mots-clés

Social comparison; Facebook; envy; social media; well-being

URL

https://research.facebook.com/file/3068383903380990/Social-Comparison-and-Facebook-Feedback-Positivity-and-Opportunities-for-Comparison.pdf

doi

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376482

Accessibilité de l'article

Libre

Champ

Data Science, Human Computer Interaction & UX, Core Data Science

Type contenu (théorique Applicative méthodologique)

Méthodologique

Méthode

The method involved surveying 37,729 people from 18 countries and analyzing their Facebook activity data from the prior month to understand the kinds of activities most strongly associated with social comparison.

Cas d'usage

Facebook

Objectifs de l'article

The objectives of the article were to gain a better understanding of how people compare themselves to others on social media and the impact it has on their well-being, and to provide design opportunities to help mitigate the negative effects of social comparison on Facebook users.

Question(s) de recherche/Hypothèses/conclusion

The research question was how do people compare themselves to others on Facebook and what are the consequences of this behavior on their well-being?

The hypothesis was that social comparison on Facebook would have a negative impact on users' well-being.

The conclusions were that social comparison on Facebook is associated with negative outcomes such as decreased life satisfaction and increased depressive symptoms, and that certain online activities such as viewing more feedback on others' posts are strongly associated with social comparison.

Cadre théorique/Auteur.es

The theoretical framework of the article is social comparison theory, and the main authors cited include Leon Festinger and Abraham Tesser.

Concepts clés

Social comparison, Well-being

Données collectées (type source)

The type of data collected was survey responses and Facebook activity data

Définition des émotions

Non

Ampleur expérimentation (volume de comptes)

37,729 people from 18 countries

Technologies associées

Server log data.

Mention de l'éthique

Non