| dc.description.abstract | The emergence of the Internet has made it easier for people
to socially interact than ever before. Today, the most popular
channel is Facebook with over 845 million users world wide.
In Sweden, the number of users amount to approximately
half of the population. We had two aims with this study.
First, we investigate which areas of Facebook usage that
Swedish Facebook users consider more important vis-a-vis
less important. We were also interested in how users convey
their persona through their status updates, including what
they status update about, and the underlying reasons for updating
one’s status. Second, we investigate what psychological
effects Facebook may induce. More specifically, we look
at the psychological constructs self-esteem and well-being
in relation to Facebook usage. We surveyed 1011 Swedish
Facebook users with our questionnaires, measuring respondents’
Facebook usage patterns, well-being and self-esteem.
Our analyses revealed that on average Swedish women spend
81 minutes per day on Facebook, whereas Swedish men are
logged on to the site about 64 minutes per day. Generally,
Facebook is used for social network maintenance, such as
maintaining contact with people one doesn’t meet so often.
However, Facebook is seldom used for meeting new people.
Another finding is that Facebook users generally tend to
update their status about positive events, major events and
when they are feeling well, rather than negative events and
when they are feeling bad. Women seem to be more engaged
and active on Facebook than men, agreeing that a vast number
of uses is significantly more important. Furthermore,
women tend to write more about their thoughts and feelings,
whereas twice as many men state that they provoke others
on Facebook. Pertaining to Facebook’s psychological effects,
the amount of time spent on Facebook had no relationship
with self-esteem when controlling for gender, age, education
and income. $is result runs counter to previous findings.
However, women who spend more time on Facebook report
feeling less happy and feel less content with their lives. For
men, this relationship was not evident. $e study teaches
that Facebook is used as a tool for affiliating with friends and
family, as well as a personal showcase, where users show their
positive sides. Herein lies also a danger. When Facebook users
compare their own lives with others’ seemingly more successful
careers and happy relationships, they may feel that
their own lives are less successful in comparison. | sv |
