Emotional Responses During Social Information Seeking on Facebook

Abstract

Based on existing research on social networking and information seeking, it was proposed that Facebook.com use could be conceptualized as serving two primary goals: passive social browsing (i.e., newsfeeds) and extractive social searching (i.e., friends' profiles). This study explored whether these categories adequately reflect Facebook use and whether they moderate physiological indicators of emotion. Thirty-six participants navigated Facebook.com while their on-screen activity and physiological responses associated with motivation and emotion were recorded. Results showed that the majority of screens encountered during Facebook use could be categorized as devoted to social browsing or social searching. Participants spent more time on social browsing than they spent on social searching. Skin-conductance data indicated that sympathetic activation diminished during the course of both social browsing and social searching. Facial EMG data indicated that participants experienced more pleasantness during the course of social searching than they experienced during social browsing. These results are discussed in terms of existing social-networking research and an evaluative space model of emotion.

Social Network Sites, Individual Social Capital and Happiness

“…Passive following refers to browsing other people's profiles and can enhance subjective wellbeing by building a sense of connectedness (Valenzuela et al 2009) and serving as a pleasurable experience (Wise et al 2010). However, the passive following of SNSs or the following of information that others share on the platform can negatively affect subjective well-being through exacerbation of negative emotions such as envy and jealousy.…”

Different Modalities of Using Facebook: The Influence of Actual Social Relations, Wellbeing, and Attitude Towards the Medium

“…Some authors even affirmed that FB may be a source of social capital (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). The expansion of social network should lower the feeling of loneliness but research showed that the relation between FB use and loneliness is not univocal and depends on the specific activity that users participate in on the social networking site (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010;Wise, Alhabash, & Park, 2010). People with different feelings of loneliness seem to use FB in different way, not more or less.…”

A Study of Social Information Seeking (SIS) among LIS Research Scholars in Pakistan

“…According to Wise, Alhabash and Park [7] emergence of social information seeking is directed in the form of online question-answering (QA) websites which appears to constitute a specific virtual society. On-line community services such as Questioning & Answering and Yahoo!…”

“…Research on social networking shows that people spend more time on Social Browsing than on Social Searching [7]. It means that social browsing is becoming more important activity on social networking sites than social searching.…”