I searched online for a topic to blog about because I am already out of ideas for this class…or maybe I’m just not creative enough. But, on msnbc.com, under the technology tab, I saw the title, Can You Spot the Facebook Narcissist At first I was confused. How could someone on Facebook be a narcissist through Facebook? So naturally, I read on.
Researchers at the University of Georgia studied Facebook users by a personality questionnaire. They compared the results to the user’s profile, as well as using untrained observers to look at the profiles and rate how narcissistic or egotistical the users were.
Results were that the number of friends and wall posts that a persona had correlated with how narcissistic they were. Also, people who were titled at narcissistic had glamorous or self-promoting pictures of themselves as their profile pictures. The article also states that the other users used snapshots as their profile pictures, which I assume are pictures of them and their friends just having fun.
Keep in mind that this article does state that not all Facebook users are narcissists, but these narcissists use Facebook the same way they use their other relationships, for self-promotion. They view their friends in quantity and not quality. The more friends they have, the better off they are, and more people see them online.
But, between you me and this blog, I think this article is stupid. Yes, maybe some people use their Facebook profile pictures to make themselves look better, but I can’t think of a single person that can be characterized as a Facebook narcissist. According the DeVito’s Message textbook, in chapter 10, people want to have many friends on Facebook because interacting with people online lessens their loneliness. So there is nothing wrong with having a lot friends on Facebook (I have about 660!) and having a flattering picture of yourself as your profile picture. Besides everyone wants to look pretty and have a lot of friends.
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3 comments:
I completely agree with your last paragraph. Just because people want to have friends and look good in a picture that everyone is going to see does not make them a narcissists. I also find this quite interesting that this is a topic on msnbc.com. I still cannot grasp the concept that so many people are interested in classifying facebook as something good or bad. Its just a place where friends can meet and stay in touch. Right?
I agree and disagree with this post. I understand that of course everyone does not want a really unflattering picture and to have it say "Katelyn has four friends." But on the other hand, I do think people become slightly narcissistic on Facebook by taking pictures of them scantily-clothed for the profile pictures or asking a friend of a friend of a friend to be there friend on facebook just to up their status. I do agree with you, Emily, why such a big deal?
I definitely get where you're coming from in this post. People do want to look good and present a good image, hence preferring to have a good looking profile picture. Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, popularity matters to people, so it probably boosts people's self esteem to have a decent number of friends. However, I do think that there is a point where a person can become too obsessive about these things.
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