Student Independent Projects Psychology 2015:Post? Like? Comment? How Feedback Influences Self-esteem on Social Networking Sites

Macey, Brandi E. (2015) Student Independent Projects Psychology 2015:Post? Like? Comment? How Feedback Influences Self-esteem on Social Networking Sites. Research Report. Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Throughout this paper, it will discuss how feedback from social networking sites does affect self-esteem. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are the three main social networking sites that will be talked about, and how feedback is linked to how an individual will feels after participating on these social websites. Feedback consists of posting a picture/status and receiving a number of likes or comments. As a result of feedback, an individual’s self-esteem is affects, where negative feedback is more common than positive feedback. In conclusion, these social networking sites, there is more negative feedback given, which tends to end in a higher number of people having low self-esteem than high self-esteem. Social networking sites have become a major impact when investigating an individual’s self-esteem. Some networking sites that have become popular would include twitter, Instagram, but especially Facebook. Facebook has greatly increased in the past couple years, and has greatly influenced an individual’s social life. When comparing factors in terms of social networking sites, self-esteem is greatly influenced due to the feedback given. Feedback consists of posting a picture/comment, liking a picture/comment and commenting on a picture/status. These aspects are linked to self- esteem, which ties everything together, it is what makes or breaks a person depending on how they take control of situations. Self-esteem can be defined as an individual’s self-respect, but it can be influenced as either high or low depending on the type of situation. Running head: POST? LIKE? COMMENT? 3 Influential factors, which consist of feedback, have an impact on self-esteem and define if an individual’s self-esteem, depending on the feedback that has been given on these sites. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the factors that influence self-esteem, consisting of feedback on social networking sites. The social networking sites that will be discussed will be twitter, Instagram and Facebook. On these social websites, it is a way of social interaction, without having face to face conversations, because it all happens online. Examining feedback such as posting, liking or commenting on a social networking site will better explain how it affects an individual’s self-esteem. The positive feedback will cause an individual to have high self-esteem, while low self-esteem will be caused by negative feedback. In most cases, feedback that is given on these social networking sites has been found to have a negative influence on self-esteem (Clerkin, Smith, & Hames, 2013). Overall, the main question addressed in this paper will be; does feedback from social networking sites influence self-esteem? Individuals do not realize in the beginning how greatly affected their self-respect may be, until they began to see ignorant and rude comments. Self-esteem tends to be lowered, but if the comments are positive, and they have a number of likings on a picture posted, their self-esteem is heightened. There are different ways that feedback on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook can be given. Feedback on twitter consist of only posting, Instagram can include liking a picture, or posting a comment, and Facebook can be updating a status or picture and an individual can also post, comment or like on any of these. Feedback from these social websites is either a positive effect or a negative influence on self-esteem, which reflects self-respect.

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