Social media such as Instagram have become extremely popular and part of many people's daily routine. At the same time, critics see mental health risks, warning that posts can turn into a competition and users become addicted to other users' feedback (e.g., likes, new followers) to boost their self-esteem. In line with such concerns, Instagram recently started an invisible likes test phase in several countries. The present study relates such claims and interventions to the academic literature and empirical research. We refer to existing concepts and models such as impression management, media addiction, and the uses and gratification approach, considering subjective feedback relevance as a proxy for individually perceived gratification. As a complement to previous research, which typically examined social media feedback in terms of frequency (e.g., number of likes received), our field study among 255 Instagram users surveyed subjective feedback relevance, that is, individual differences in how important one considers other users' feedback in the form of likes or other engagement on Instagram. We explored the relationships between subjective feedback relevance and usage behavior and the correlations between these measures and self-esteem and subjective social status. Low self-esteem and low social status were associated with higher feedback relevance; low social status was further correlated with high engagement in many Instagram activities and choosing to have a public profile. Our study's limitations, future research tasks, and practical implications for well-being-oriented media design are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementPutting a high value on other users' feedback on Instagram (e.g., likes, followers) is associated with low self-esteem and a low perceived social status on Instagram. Moreover, users with low perceived social status are more active on Instagram and, for example, report making posts more frequently or commenting on others' posts, which may indicate a wish to attract attention and boost their selfworth. Thus, our study can contribute to assessing current interventions such as invisible likes to reduce social pressure and competition on social media.

Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are web-based tools designed to help voters to find a political party that matches their political views. In the past decade, VAAs have been developed in several countries in order to stimulate political discussion especially among the young and to facilitate a voting decision. At the same time, social media such as Twitter play an increasingly important role for political discussion and opinion formation. The aim of the present research is to explore the interplay of VAAs and social media. We analyzed 500 tweets regarding the main VAA in Germany, the ‘Wahl-O-Mat’, during the pre-election phase of the federal state election in North Rhine Westphalia. As a main result, we discovered that tweets that recommended the app as a product did not obtain high levels of social impact, whereas tweets with self-portrayal content (e.g., posting one’s own VAA result) elicited more engagement by other twitter users. Further results are interpreted through the lens of psychological theories. Finally, we outline practical implications for potential product improvement of the Wahl-O-Mat. Altogether, the present paper highlights the importance of integrating psychological research in the process of VAA development.