Social Media in a Subjective-science Mode: The “Facebook Likes” Study Reconfigured with Self-reference
Keywords:
Facebook, Social Media, Q Methodology, SubjectivityAbstract
A Cambridge University study of more than 58,000 users of the popular social medium Facebook examined the extent to which the Facebook "Likes" button predicted behaviors and attributes of a diverse nature (IQ, sexual identity, political and popular-culture preferences, religious affiliation, and the like). Despite revealing several intriguing and statistically significant relationships, the research sheds scant light on the nature of the subjectivity at play. In a Q-methodological study of a sample of subjectively communicated responses to the Cambridge research, three versions of the subjective interface between the users of Facebook and the social medium are reported. Implications for studying the social-psychological aspects of social media from the methodological principle of self-reflection are discussed.
References
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Cambron, M., Acitelli, L. K., & Steinberg, L. (2010). When friends make you blue: The role of friendship contingent self-esteem in predicting self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 384-397. doi:10.1177/0146167209351593
Denti, L., Barbopuolos, I., Nilson, I., Holmberg, L., Thulin, M., Wendeblad, M. Anden, L. & Davidson, E. (2012, March 6). Sweden’s largest Facebook study. Gothenburg Research Institute. Retrieved from http://www.gri.handels.gu.se/news/d/sweden’s-largest-facebook-Study
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, 12 (4), article 1. Retrieved fromhttp://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 79-83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411
Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504-528. doi:10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00046-1
Hampton, K., Rainie, R., Lu, W., Dwyer, M., Shin, I., & Purcell, K. (2014, August 26). Social media and the ‘Spiral of Silence’. Pew Research Center. Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/26/social-media-and-the-spiral-of-silence/
Konrath, S. H., O’Brien, E. H. & Hsing, C. (2011). Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 180–198.
Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D., & Graepel, T. (2011, March 11). Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (published online before printing, doi:10.1073/pnas.1218772110).
Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13, 357-364. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0257
McKeown, B. & Thomas, D. B. (2013). Q methodology (2nd ed.) (Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-066). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pettijohn, T. F. II, LaPiene, K. E., Pettijohn, T. F., & Horting, A. L. (2012). Relationships between Facebook intensity, friendship contingent self-esteem, and personality in U.S. college students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 6, article 1. doi: 10.5817/CP2012-1-2
Stephenson, W. (1953). The study of behavior: Q-technique and its methodology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Toma, C. (2013). Feeling better but doing worse: Effects of Facebook self-presentation on implicit self-esteem and cognitive task performance. Media Psychology,16, 199-230. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2012.762189
Turkle, S. (2015, September 26). Stop Googling. Let’s talk. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/stop-googling-lets-talk.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
van Dijck, J. (2013). 'You have one identity': performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media Culture & Society, 35 (2), 199-215.
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2016-05-31
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