Effects Of Exposure To Facebook On Self-Esteem

Social media are web-based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by both sharing and consuming information (Nations, 2017). Nowadays, the demand for the use of social media is undoubtedly increasing because it comes down to a simple basic human desire: the need to connect with other humans, to be part of a group. One of the most popular social media platforms is Facebook. It is a social networking website and service where users can post comments, share photographs and links to news or other interesting content on the Web, play games, chat live, and even stream live video (Nations, 2016). Of all the social media platforms and websites, why is it that people choose to use Facebook to connect with people? It is because

One can show off their talents or assets through Facebook. One of the benefits of Facebook is that it allows the user to display them, as they actively want to be seen. This was backed up by a study entitled Mirror, Mirror On My Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem conducted by Cornell University. In the study, 63 students were left alone in a university lab at a computer. The computers were either turned off or showing the student's Facebook page. Some of the computers that were turned off also had a mirror propped against the screen. Those who were on Facebook were allowed to spend three minutes reviewing their page and then all of the students were given a questionnaire to measure their self-esteem. The students who were on Facebook gave more positive feedback about themselves than the other two groups, according to the article. Those who had made a change to their profile gave themselves the highest marks (Hancock, 2011). Facebook also lets a person receive support from like-minded individual. This is possible through the use of Facebook Groups. These can be a great place for people to come together around a combined subject or cause. Groups can be built around a topic or subject in your industry; a mastermind; a community cause; or a group of paid members for a program or service. When you opt to participate in a social network community, you can pick and choose individuals whose likes and dislikes are

One of the disadvantages of using Facebook is cyber bullying. In 2013, British publication Mail Online named Facebook the worst social network when it comes to bullying. According to them the main target of Facebook bullies are male 19-year olds. Of all the cases of cyber bullying reported 87% of them were done through Facebook. Fortunately, to counteract as much of the Facebook bullying as possible pages have been created on the social networking site to discourage people from bullying others. Bullyingisviolence and nobullying.com are two active Facebook pages that work to stop this problem. Another Facebook downfall is the spread of fake news since its easy to make a Facebook page or profile. The spread of fake news can lead to major miscommunication and misconceptions to the intended audience of the event. However, Just last month, Facebook teamed up with Google to help stop the spread of fake news through the Fact Check. The "Fact Check" label identifies articles that include information fact checked by news publishers and fact-checking