The real you? The role of visual cues and comment congruence in perceptions of social attractiveness from facebook profiles.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social cues in self-presentations and the congruence of other-generated comments with the self-presentation in people's evaluations of a profile owner. A 2 (level of social cues: high vs. low) × 2 (congruent vs. incongruent) × 2 (order) × 2 (multiple messages) mixed-subject experiment was conducted with 104 college students. The results showed that a profile owner was perceived less socially attractive when other-generated comments were incongruent with the profile owner's self-presentation. No matter how people package themselves with extravagant self-presentations, it cannot be very successful without validation from others. Interestingly, an interaction effect between congruence and the level of social cues suggested that perceived popularity was low in the incongruent condition regardless of level of social cue. Theoretical and practical implications were also discussed.
Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65201, USA. sh2m5@mail.missouri.edu
Seoyeon
S
Hong
Edson
E
Tandoc
Eunjin Anna
EA
Kim
Bokyung
B
Kim
Kevin
K
Wise
D000328:Adult; D001504:Beauty; D057218:Blogging; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012649:Self Concept; D061108:Social Media; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires