Facebook Inc (FB): Study Shows This Can Improve Self-Worth

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is surely becoming a lab test subject in several arenas. And why not? With one billion user profiles, there is quite a pool of individuals  from which sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and others could delve into how people connect with each other, their overall thoughts and feelings about themselves and life in general, and even learn some personality traits and characteristics by seeing what users do on the social network. This could be seen as one giant, virtual psychological petri dish.

We have reported on several studies involving Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and its users, so why not stick to tradition and report on the latest findings? This new study will soon be published in the trade journal Media Psychology, and it looks at the self-esteem or self-worth of people who have profiles on Facebook. Catalina Toma, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, authored the study, which looked at the impact of a user’s Facebook Profile on the user’s self-esteem and ability to perform some assorted tasks.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has established itself as a procurer of vanity and self-importance among many of its users (no surprise), so it is little wonder what might come out of a study of users looking at their own profiles? Professor Toma looked into this by asking some study participants to look at their own profile Pages for five minutes, then she conducted a test on them to measure how they feel and what they think about themselves after looking at the profile. Each participant was then asked to conduct a series of tasks in a set amount of time. The control group did not look at profiles but also conducted a test and a series of tasks.

Among the group that looked at their own Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) profiles, those users were reporting improved self-esteem and self-worth than the control group which did not look at their profiles, but it also reported having less motivation to complete tasks in a timely fashion or with great care. The control group seemed to have more motivation to complete the tasks but their mistakes were no different than the group that did view its user profiles. So what is the ultimate takeaway by Professor Toma?