People With Lots of Facebook Friends Aren’t Popular–They’re Narcissists!

So a group of researchers have recently confirmed something that most of us probably already knew, even though we never said it out loud: people in your network who have a lot of friends on Facebook are lonely and narcissistic people. And we used to think that was because they were popular, friendly, or huge flirts.

These findings were published by 30-year-old professor Christopher Carpenter in a study entitled Narcissism on Facebook: Self-promotional and Anti-social Behavior. In his paper, Carpenter defines narcissism as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance."

So the next time you see someone posting a barrage of status updates and pictures, then you know what they're doing. And no, it's not self promotion (unless they're some sort of celebrity, that is.)

What researchers did was study 292 college students who had active Facebook accounts. Those who had a higher number of Facebook friends scored higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) questionnaire that they filled out during the study.

The NPI measured the users' behaviors on sharing photos, posting updates, adding profile information, and asking for social support. It also indicates some characteristics of users who practice crazy Facebook behavior (as I'd like call it), such as getting angry when people don't comment or "like" status updates or retaliating when negative ones are posted.

"People who have a heightened need to feel good about themselves will often turn to Facebook as a way to do so. Facebook gives those with narcissistic tendencies the opportunity to exploit the site to get the feedback they need and become the center of attention."

-- Chris Carpenter, study author

If you'd had enough of all the crazy on your social network, then you might want to quit Facebook by deactivating--at least, for now.

Article by Hazel Chua
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