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

2
Quelle: http://healthmeup.com/phot ogallery- healt hy-liv ing/could-y ou-be-s uffer ing-from-fear- of-m issing-out-fomo/ 32443/3
Nowadays ....

3
Quelle: http://prevenblog.c om/ wp-c ontent/uploads/bigst ock-T een-G irls -Text- Mes saging-37136302. jpg
Recently ....

4
Quelle: http://www.buzzly.fr/jq/ckedit or/plugins/doks oft_uploader/ us erfiles/phubbing2.jpg
Quelle: https://timenerdworld.files. wor dpress.com/2013/08/phubbing.jpg?w=600
Quelle: http://www.buzzly.fr/jq/ckedit or/plugins/ dok soft_uploader/us erfiles/ phubbing.jpeg
Recently ....

5
Source: http://ingo-ronnebur g.com/1000- lik es- bei-facebook
Source: http://getfacebooklik ess. blogs pot.de
However ....

6
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/fas hion/ 30FA CE BOOK.htm l?_r= 0
Source: https://www.uni-bam berg. de/k omm unik ation/ news/ wiss ensc haft/artikel/fac ebook_stress/
But ....

GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship
Two main research perspectives
7
Positive
effects Negative
effects

Two main research perspectives
8
Purpose of the study:
Combiningboth research questions

Former results
9
What we already know:
• Number of friends in social networks is associated with 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 to
higher or lower subjective well-being?

The study
10
Former studies:
§ looked at either the positive
outcomes or the negative
outcomes
This study:
§ combined both perspectives of positive and
negative outcomes of having a huge
number 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
11
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
12
SWL
Amount of
Likes
Usage
intensity
Self-‐Esteem
Number
of friends
PoOL
the positive effect
the negative effect

Friends & usage intensity
13
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
14
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
15
Mediating variable: PoOL
• scale of Chou & Edge (2012),
translated into German
• scale: 5 = „trifft völlig zu“ vs.
1 = „trifft gar nicht zu“
(without Item 1: α = .84)
à low α tolerated because of
heterogenity 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%wenig
wenig
mittelmäßig
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
16
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“
• 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 hypothesized model
to a great extent

Measurement-Model
18
SWLS
Chi-Quadrat (132) = 216.4, p < .01;; CFI = .920 ;; RMSEA = .067 ;; SRMR = .067
Amount of
Likes
Usage
intensity
Self-‐Esteem
.66 .74 .61 .56 .55 .60 .62 .78 .82 .81
.81
.64
.82
.70
.50
.97 .75 .15
Number
of friends
PoOL

Finally: The SEM-Model
19
SWLS
.66
Chi-Quadrat (186) = 326.7, p < .01;; CFI = .873 ;; RMSEA = .073 ;; SRMR = .132
Amount of
Likes
Usage
intensity
Self-‐Esteem
.74 .61 .56 .55 .60 .62 .78 .82 .81
.81
.64
.82
.70
.50
.97 .75 .15
Number
of 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 likes
AND
• Likes increase the personal self-esteem and by that also the life satisfaction
Though:
• More friends need more attention and take more lifetime
AND
• Looking more at friends‘ profiles make people feel worse and make them think that
others are better off à and by that lower the life satisfaction
Conclusion
People have to manage the trade-off between joy and
depression when 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 Selbstwertgefü̈hls: Befunde zu Reliabilitä̈t, Validitä̈t und Stabilitä̈t 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 your
attention!
Contact details:
Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln
Prof. Dr. Christian Bosau, Dipl.-Psych. & Master of HRM & IR
Schaevenstraße 1a/b
50676 Köln
Tel.: +49 221 20302-0
e-mail: christian.bosau@rfh-koeln.de
Slideshare: cbosau
Twitter: cribocologne

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

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

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

Similar to The two sides of social media friendship - Presentation at GOR 2016 (20)

More from Christian Bosau

More from Christian Bosau (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

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