A functional role of Facebook : psychological and social needs.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to investigate motivations to use Facebook. In Study 1, data from 87 participants were used to determine which psychological (e.g., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and social (e.g., achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power) needs predict concrete, observable Facebook behaviors. The data supported the hypothesis that psychological and social needs will predict Facebook behaviors. The need for competence positively predicts hours per week spent on Facebook and the number of personal websites on Facebook. The need for autonomy positively predicts the number of friends and number of photo albums on Facebook. The need for relatedness negatively predicts the number of friends on Facebook. The need for achievement negatively predicts the number of About Me words on Facebook. The need for affiliation negatively predicts the number of photo albums on Facebook. In Study 2, data from 14 participants were used to determine the effect of social exclusion on response time to login to Facebook. The data supported the hypothesis that socially excluded individuals will log into Facebook faster than non-socially excluded individuals. For the socially excluded, Facebook can function to reduce social pain. These results suggest that one function of Facebook is to maintain balance in life between psychological needs, social needs, and social interactions.