HARDLY a Social Network!
Loners who use Facebook in a bid to make new friends only end up annoying the few pals they already have, new research claims.
Findings reveal that people suffering low selfesteem who sign up to Facebook often end up over-sharing personal information and moaning.
This presents a negative image of them which irritates existing friends and puts new ones off from getting close to them.
Canadian researchers say that despite Facebook being seen by many as an easy and fun way of making new friends, posting too many negative or self-pitying status updates can actually annoy online ‘friends.’
And whingers who post the occasional cheerful update received far more replies and
and attention from friends when they kept things upbeat.
The team, from the University of Waterloo conducted a study to see how a person’s self-esteem influences online postings.
They conducted experiments asking students their opinions of Facebook. Those with low self-esteem said they thought it was a good way of meeting new people and saw it as ‘a safe place that reduces the risk of awkward social situations.’
Students were also asked for their last ten
Canadian researchers say that despite Facebook being seen by many as an easy and fun way of making new friends, posting too many negative or self-pitying status updates can actually annoy online ‘friends.’
status updates, which were rated according to how positive or negative they were.
A different student unknown to the poster was then asked to rate how much they liked the person behind each set of status updates.
Results, published in journal Psychological Science, revealed that people with low self esteem made more negative posts and were therefore less liked.
Study author Amanda Forest defended letting strangers pass judgement on someone they’d never met, claiming many Facebook friends have never met in real life.
She said: ‘We had this idea that Facebook could be a really fantastic place for people to strengthen their relationships.
‘People with low selfesteem were more negative than people with high self-esteem - and those we asked to judge liked them less.
‘The students who judged were strangers, but that’s realistic. In earlier research, we found that nearly half of Facebook friends are actually strangers or acquaintances, not close friends.”
She added: ‘So people with low self-esteem may feel safe making personal disclosures on Facebook - but they may not be helping themselves.
‘If you’re talking to somebody in person and you say something, you might get some indication that they don’t like it, that they’re sick of hearing your negativity.
‘However, when people have a negative reaction to a post on Facebook, they seem to keep it to themselves. Problems arise because you don’t see most of the reactions.’