People Feel Bad When They’re Not “Liked” On Facebook

I’ll go ahead and admit this and get it out of the way – when I post something to Facebook, I hope people will “like” whatever it is. I also usually hope someone will get a conversation going about it in the comments section. It drives me nuts when my wife can post something and get tons of likes from all of her girlfriends, and I can post the exact same thing and get about one and a half likes. Now, here’s an honest question for you: when you post anything to Facebook, are you satisfied with just getting it out there, so to speak, or are you hoping deep down you’ll get a ton of likes and comments?

If you don’t get that form of positive feedback, how do you feel? Is your day ruined? Are you jealous of all of your “friends” who are getting liked like crazy? Do you spend the rest of the day sulking about life’s unfairness? Or, do you just think of something else to post and repeat the vicious cycle hoping someone will take notice of you? It’s okay – I’m afraid most all of us do it. And, according to a study done by Australia’s University of Queensland’s School of Psychology, people feel even worse about themselves than they already do when they think they’re being ignored on Facebook.

Part of the study required them to watch people using Facebook and to record their reactions. Little did the trial group know, however, that the researchers had made some adjustments to their normal Facebook accounts. Instead of being able to receive likes and comments, those options were disabled. So, it didn’t matter what they posted – people couldn’t like it or comment upon it even if they’d wanted to.

Of course there was also a normal trial group whose accounts weren’t limited who received varying amounts of likes and comments. At the end of the day(s), the group with the “broken” accounts did not feel as good about themselves as the other group.

Man, who would’ve thought at its inception that we’d one day be using Facebook as a barometer for self-worth?

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SOURCE: http://www.cnet.com/news/didnt-get-a-like-on-facebook-there-goes-your-self-esteem/