Frequent Interaction and Fast Feedback Predict Perceived Social Support: Using Crawled and Self-Reported Data of Facebook Users

Abstract

The present study examines if Facebooking can contribute to psychological well-being and if so, which aspects of Facebook use could play a significant role. Matching crawled data with self-reported datamotivation, and social network services (SNSs), such as Facebook, seem to provide a handy way to satisfy this basic human need. Then, is this social networking related to gratifying social relationships and psychological well-being? We attempted to answer this question by examining how Facebook users actually interact with their Facebook friends. Specifically, we focused on the number of Facebook interactions Facebook users has with their friends and the speed of friends' feedback to a Facebook user's post. We propose that more social interactions and faster responses from friends could be key aspects of understanding positive role of Facebook use in psychological well-being. We also investigate whether individual differences in sensitivity to other's behaviors and feelings (i.e., interpersonal awareness tendency) play a moderating role in the proposed relationships.To accomplish the aforementioned goals, we use two sets of data: crawled and self-reported data. First, we crawled study participants' one-month period of Facebook activities. As an unobtrusive and objective measure, crawled data could provide the reports about the number of Facebook interactions (e.g., number of comments to their posts) and each of their time stamps during the month prior to the study. Second, we conducted an online survey to measure participants' perceived social support and loneliness. Matching the two data sets allowed us to examine the relationship between Facebook use and psychological well-being.

Texting at a Child Helpline: How Text Volume, Session Length and Duration, Response Latency, and Waiting Time Are Associated with Counseling Impact

“…Latency may be effective for the person producing a response but not for the one waiting for it. 14,46 In addition, we observed a negative relationship between counseling impact and waiting time before counseling (H3) in accordance with our hypothesis. Previous research has shown that increased waiting time can result in negative responses.…”

Facebook-based social support and health: A systematic review.

“…Kim & Lee, 2011;Liu & Yu, 2013), and college engagement (Gray et al, 2013). Higher levels of Facebook-based social support also predicted lower levels of a wide range of negative outcomes that were also measured, including depression (Frison & Eggermont, 2015, 2016), victimisation (Cole et al, 2017McConnell et al, 2017), and loneliness (K. T. Lee et al, 2013;Seo et al, 2016). There were some notable exceptions to these findings; for example, for persons with little to no social anxiety (Indian & Grieve, 2014), and male adolescent boys (Frison & Eggermont, 2016).…”

“…Research into social support drawn from Facebook has found that it can have a positive effect on various outcomes. These have included depression (Frison & Eggermont, 2016;Wright et al, 2013), anxiety (Indian & Grieve, 2014), well-being (Huang, 2016), physical health (Cavallo et al, 2014), and loneliness (Seo, Kim, & Yang, 2016).…”

“…Additionally, there are several factors and behaviours that are intrinsic to Facebook use that can influence the amount of social support a person perceives they have from this SNS. For example, number of friends (Nabi, Prestin, & So, 2013), level and emotional content of interactions (Seo et al, 2016), self-disclosure (Huang, 2016), communication competence (Wright et al, 2013), and social comparison to other Facebook users (Jang, Park, & Song, 2016) which can have both positive and negative effects on perceptions of social support.…”

Linking Social Support, Social Anxiety and Maladaptive Daydreaming: Evidence from University Students of Pakistan

“…Social support refers to various forms of aid and assistance supplied by family members, friends, neighbors and others, which broadly encompasses a multitude of social interaction (Barrera et al, 1981;Kalsoom, Masood, & Jami, 2017). Social support is also explained in terms of a process of interaction between relationships which improves copping, esteem, belonging, and competence through real or perceived exchanges of physical or psychological resources (Cohen, Underwood &Gottlieb, 2000;Seo, Kim& Yang, 2016).…”