A new study finds that
sharing, or over-sharing, your photographs on
Facebook may have a significant negative impact
on real-life relationships.
According to research from the University of
Birmingham, University West of England and the
University of Edinburgh, people who frequently
post photos to Facebook can’t control how their
various “friends” will perceive the posts.
“It’s worth remembering that the information we
post to our ‘friends’ on Facebook, actually gets
viewed by lots of different categories of people:
partners; friends; family; colleagues and
acquaintances,” said Dr. David Houghton, lead
author of the report, told Phys.org. “And each
group seems to take a different view of the
information shared.”
“Our research found that those who frequently
post photographs on Facebook risk damaging
real-life relationships. This is because people,
other than very close friends and relatives, don’t
seem to relate well to those who constantly
share photos of themselves.”
Entitled “Tagger’s Delight?” the study found that
those who share more photos had a decrease in
intimacy and closeness in their relationships.
Also, a real-life friendship only saw negative
impacts with more photos posted to the social
network website.
“Partners sharing more photographs of family is
positively related to support, whereas partners
sharing more photographs of friends is related
negatively to intimacy,” the report reads.
The study also found that large advertising
campaigns that encourage fans to post photos
with their products were also negatively
impacted.
“While benefitting brand awareness and critical
mass of a Facebook fan page for a brand,
organization or cause, sharing photographs may
be harmful to those asked to participate,” the
report states.”
According to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll,
two-thirds of online American adults (67
percent) are Facebook users, making Facebook
the dominant social networking site in this
country.
sharing, or over-sharing, your photographs on
Facebook may have a significant negative impact
on real-life relationships.
According to research from the University of
Birmingham, University West of England and the
University of Edinburgh, people who frequently
post photos to Facebook can’t control how their
various “friends” will perceive the posts.
“It’s worth remembering that the information we
post to our ‘friends’ on Facebook, actually gets
viewed by lots of different categories of people:
partners; friends; family; colleagues and
acquaintances,” said Dr. David Houghton, lead
author of the report, told Phys.org. “And each
group seems to take a different view of the
information shared.”
“Our research found that those who frequently
post photographs on Facebook risk damaging
real-life relationships. This is because people,
other than very close friends and relatives, don’t
seem to relate well to those who constantly
share photos of themselves.”
Entitled “Tagger’s Delight?” the study found that
those who share more photos had a decrease in
intimacy and closeness in their relationships.
Also, a real-life friendship only saw negative
impacts with more photos posted to the social
network website.
“Partners sharing more photographs of family is
positively related to support, whereas partners
sharing more photographs of friends is related
negatively to intimacy,” the report reads.
The study also found that large advertising
campaigns that encourage fans to post photos
with their products were also negatively
impacted.
“While benefitting brand awareness and critical
mass of a Facebook fan page for a brand,
organization or cause, sharing photographs may
be harmful to those asked to participate,” the
report states.”
According to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll,
two-thirds of online American adults (67
percent) are Facebook users, making Facebook
the dominant social networking site in this
country.
