“They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than I Am”: The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others' Lives

Introduction and Literature Review

Most people are concerned about others' impressions of them and try to manage these impressions in a favorable way.^1–5 With the invention of computer-mediated communication, social interactions can take place beyond face-to-face. Computer-mediated communication differs from face-to-face communication in that it eliminates many of the subtle cues that people use to form their impressions of others. Without these subtle cues, will the impressions formed online differ from those formed through face-to-face interaction? This research aims to answer this question by examining some perceptions of Facebook users.

Previous research has found that users of computer-mediated communication can employ several techniques to optimize their self-presentation and promote desired relationships, such as spending more time with greater cognitive resources to edit the messages, ⁶ carefully selecting photographs, ⁷ highlighting their positive attributes, ⁷ presenting an ideal self, ⁷ having a deeper self-disclosure, ⁸ managing the styles of their language,^6,7,9,10 or providing a set of links to other sites or associating themselves with certain people, symbols, and material objects.^11–13 Through these actions, users of computer-mediated communication can leave better impressions on others.

One feature of Facebook is that it enables users to present themselves in an online profile with pictures and life events that they would like to share with those listed as their Facebook friends. Although comments posted by others cannot be controlled, Facebook users can still select whom they will allow to be Facebook friends; thus they can indirectly control the comments. Previous research has found that Facebook has affected the lives of its users, as well as their self-perceptions. For example, it can help users maintain or create social capital,^14–16 facilitate civic and political participation, ¹⁷ motivate students and establish a higher-level affective learning classroom climate, ¹⁸ and increase users' self-esteem with positive comments posted by their Facebook friends. ¹⁹ Research also has found some negative impacts of Facebook. For example, Facebook can cause jealousy issues in romantic relationships ²⁰ and decrease teachers' credibility; ¹⁸ users' self-esteem might be negatively affected by including strangers on Facebook, ²¹ or by receiving negative comments posted on their Facebook page. ¹⁹ In addition, people's Facebook profiles affect others' impression toward them. Previous studies found that comments posted by users' Facebook friends, ¹³ as well as the number of Facebook friends ²² and the attractiveness of Facebook friends, ¹³ affect others' impression of users' popularity or social attractiveness. Building on previous research that has examined the impact of Facebook on users' self-perceptions and others' perceptions toward them, this study fills a research gap by examining the impact of Facebook on users' perceptions toward others.

Theoretical Arguments and Hypotheses

It is argued here that Facebook users tend to employ some heuristics when they form impressions of others, especially those whom they do not know personally. First, Facebook deprives its users from observing their online partners' nonverbal expressions, thus compelling users to rely only on the information they can get online. Second, Facebook social networks grow faster than real-life social networks; therefore, it becomes nearly impossible for its users to interact closely with each of their network friends. Previous research found that an average Facebook user has 217 network members, ²¹ while the average size of a real-life social network is expected to be around 125. ²³ With the rapid expansion of their online social networks, especially of individuals whom they have never met before, online users tend to become cognitive misers.^24–26

One possible way to manage the vast size of online social networks is to employ an availability heuristic; that is, individuals can base judgment on examples that they can easily recall.^27,28 When forming impressions of others, it is easy for frequent Facebook users to recall the statements and pictures posted by their Facebook friends. Since people are motivated to make positive self-presentations, the information and images posted by Facebook friends tend to be socially desirable. Constantly reading others' reported positive life events, as well as frequently seeing others' pictures of happy moments, could give Facebook users an impression that others are happy and have good lives. In contrast to their own life events, which might not always be happy and positive, frequent Facebook users might perceive that life is not fair. Although Facebook users are all prone to employ the availability heuristic, heavy Facebook users have more available examples from Facebook; thus they are more vulnerable to a distorted perception.

When making judgments or forming impressions about others, one common attribution error is the correspondence bias; that is, the tendency to assume that others' actions and words reflect their personality or stable personal disposition, rather than being affected by situational factors.^29–32 When seeing others' happy pictures posted on Facebook, users might conclude that others are happy, while ignoring the circumstances or situations that made others happy. The correspondence bias is more likely to happen when Facebook users make attributions about people whom they have never met before. They assume that happiness is a stable characteristic of their temperaments and that they are constantly enjoying good lives. For those they do know personally, however, their past interactions with them help Facebook users avoid the trap of correspondence bias and recognize the external factors at work: it is the occasions that make their friends happy. Based on the research and arguments above, the following two hypotheses are formulated:

H1: Those who are more involved with using Facebook are more likely to perceive that others are happier and are having better lives, and are less likely to agree that life is fair (availability heuristic).

H2: Those who include more strangers on their Facebook are more likely to perceive that others are happier and are having better lives, and are less likely to agree that life is fair (correspondence bias).

Data Collection

To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire that included the three perceptions—others have a better life, others are happier, and life is fair—was developed. The respondents were 425 undergraduate students taking classes at a large state university in Utah between the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011 across various academic disciplines, including sociology, psychology, mathematics, social work, family study, chemistry, criminal justice, graphic design, astronomy, accounting, and dance. The instructors of these randomly chosen classes were contacted first by e-mail. Appointments were then made to collect the surveys from their students during their class period, except for two online classes where surveys were collected online.

Data Analysis

The results of the multiple regression analysis of the three perceptions others have a better life, others are happier, and life is fair are presented in Table 1. After controlling for religiosity, gender, and relationship status, the results show that those who spent more hours on Facebook each week (β=0.11, p<0.10) and those who included more people who they did not personally know as their Facebook friends (β=0.16, p<0.01) agreed more that others had better lives than themselves. Those who spent more time with their friends, however, agreed less that others had better lives than themselves (β=−0.16, p<0.05).

Number of years of using Facebook also had a significant impact on people's perceptions. Those who had used Facebook longer tended to perceive that others were happier than themselves (β=0.16, p<0.01) and had a lower degree of agreement with the statement that life is fair (β=−0.12, p<0.05). The more hours people spent on Facebook, the stronger was their agreement that others were happier. Those who had more friends on their Facebook agreed less with the statement that others were happier and agreed more with the view that life is fair. Those that were out frequently with their friends tended to disagree that others were happier than themselves.

Discussion and Conclusions

The results of this research support the argument that using Facebook affects people's perceptions of others. For those that have used Facebook longer, it is easier to remember positive messages and happy pictures posted on Facebook; these readily available examples give users an impression that others are happier. As expected in the first hypothesis, the results show that the longer people have used Facebook, the stronger was their belief that others were happier than themselves, and the less they agreed that life is fair. Furthermore, as predicted in the second hypothesis, this research found that the more “friends” people included on their Facebook whom they did not know personally, the stronger they believed that others had better lives than themselves. In other words, looking at happy pictures of others on Facebook gives people an impression that others are “always” happy and having good lives, as evident from these pictures of happy moments. In contrast to their own experiences of life events, which are not always positive, people are very likely to conclude that others have better lives than themselves and that life is not fair. The correspondence bias is more likely to occur when people make inferences about people whom they do not know well. They tend to perceive that others are constantly happy, while paying little attention to the circumstances that affect others' behavior.

One could argue that frequent Facebook users shall know the tricks others use to manage the impression; therefore, experienced Facebook users could avoid the potential distorted perception. However, the results of the research suggest that frequent Facebook users tend to perceive that others are happier. In other words, they are more likely to be affected by the easily recalled content and tend to have the correspondence bias, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The problems of relying on an availability heuristic and having correspondence bias can be alleviated by having more balanced information, which can be gained through deeper interactions with others. The results of this research found that the more time people spent going out with their friends, the less they agreed that others have better lives and are happier. In other words, when people have more off-line interactions with their friends, knowing more stories about others' lives, both positive and negative, they are less persuaded that others are happier than themselves. In this way, they can avoid correspondence bias. Since becoming “Facebook friends” usually starts with two people knowing each other in person, it follows that those with more friends on their Facebook tend to have a more balanced view of others because they know more people in person. Therefore, they are more likely to agree that life is fair, and less likely to agree that others are happier, as the results of this research indicated.