Open AccessImplications of Facebook Engagement Types and Feed’s Social Content for Self-Esteem via Social Comparison Processes
Author(s) -
Penny Triệu,
Nicole B. Ellison,
Sarita Schoenebeck,
Robin Brewer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
social media + society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2056-3051
DOI - 10.1177/20563051211042400
Subject(s) - psychology , content (measure theory) , social media , self esteem , tracking (education) , social psychology , social engagement , social comparison theory , computer science , sociology , world wide web , pedagogy , mathematics , mathematical analysis , social science
Self-esteem, generally understood as subjective appraisal of one’s social worth and qualities, is related to how people use social media and the gratifications derived from their use—processes driven in part by social comparison. Two major components of the social media experience drive social comparison processes: (1) what content people engage with (feeds content) and (2) how they engage with such content (engagement type). We conducted an eye-tracking study ( N = 38), to measure viewing time spent on individual Facebook posts and paired this measurement with clicking behaviors. We found that spending more time looking at posts and clicking on more of them was associated with lower self-esteem for people with more social content on their feeds. We discuss the importance of examining browsing behaviors as a combination of viewing time, clicking, and feed’s content—especially given its potential impact on well-being outcomes such as self-esteem via social comparison processes.