This study can show that 'making friends' in social networks is kind of a double edged sword. While on the one hand more friends can improve the social well being - by e.g. fostering the users' self-esteem through giving of likes -, on the other hand two many friends in social networks lead to a decrease in social well being.

1. The two sides of social media
friendship
Positive and negative outcomes of
making ‘friends‘ in social networks
C. Bosau & A.K. Bosch

2. 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. 3
Quelle: http://prevenblog.c om/ wp-­c ontent/uploads/bigst ock-­T een-­G irls -­Text-­ Mes saging-­37136302. jpg
Recently ....

4. 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. 5
Source: http://ingo-­ronnebur g.com/1000-­ lik es-­ bei-­facebook
Source: http://getfacebooklik ess. blogs pot.de
However ....

6. 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 ....

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

8. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship
Two main research perspectives
8
Purpose of the study:
Combiningboth research questions

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

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

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

12. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship
The SEM-­Model
12
SWL
Amount of
Likes
Usage
intensity
Self-­‐Esteem
Number
of friends
PoOL
the positive effect
the negative effect

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

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

15. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship
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“
• Cronbach’s α = .58
(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

16. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship
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“
• Cronbach’s α = .84
• Mean: 3,5, SD: 0,70

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

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

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

20. 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.

21. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship 21
• 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

22. GOR 2016Bosau & Bosch: two sides of social media friendship 22
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