Facebook use and individual well-being: Like me to make me happier!
Journal article: This article aims to study how Facebook use influences individual well-being. We conducted a survey on a representative sample of 2,000 French Facebook users. Our results showed that Facebook interferes with subjective well-being through its effects on friendships, self-esteem and social comparison. Hence, we found a positive relationship between receiving a large number of “Likes” and comments from Facebook friends and level of life satisfaction. In contrast, people that did not receive as many “Likes” as they hoped for tended to be more unsatisfied with their life. The latter result suggests that Facebook use can exacerbate frustration and envy. Our findings underline the ambivalence of Facebook use—which has both positive and negative psychological effects on well-being—and raise questions about the viability of Facebook if it cannot satisfy all of its users.
Author(s)
Alexandre Mayol, Thierry Pénard
Journal
- Revue d’économie industrielle
Date of publication
- 2017
Keywords
- Well-Being
- Social Networking
- Online Sociability
- Social Comparison
Pages
- 101-127
URL of the HAL notice
Version
- 1
Volume
- 158