Quality, Not Quantity of Friends Determines Teen’s Attractiveness on Social Media
Teens’ attractiveness on social media (according to their peers) is determined by good-looking profile friends and positive wall postings rather than the number of friends according to Dutch researchers Antheunis and Schouten in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Almost 500 teens saw various versions of a fictitious social network profile, and rated the profile with good-looking friends and positive wall postings as most attractive. Teens were most likely to add this profile to their own network. The number of friends did not matter.
Take aways
- Teens prefer social network profiles with:
- good-looking friends
- positive wall postings
- Teens do not care for the quantity of online friends
Study information
The question?
What determines teens’ attractiveness on social networking sites?
Who?
497 Dutch 12-15-year olds
Where?
The Netherlands
How?
The teens visited an online profile of a fictitious girl named Eline and were asked to form an impression. The profile was a mock-up profile on Hyves, at that time the most popular social network site in the Netherlands. The researchers varied the number of friends, attractiveness of friends and the valence of wall postings (positive or negative). Then, the teens indicated whether they thought Eline was physically attractive (pretty, sexy looking, attractive), socially attractive (pleasant, could be a friend, like to have a chat), extravert (bold, talkative, verbal) and whether they would add her as a friend to their own social network.
Facts and findings
- Teens who saw the profile with good-looking friends, thought the profile owner was prettier (physically attractive) than teens who saw the profile with unattractive friends.
- Teens who saw the profile with positive wall postings thought the profile owner was more fun to be with (socially attractive)
- Teens who saw the profile with good-looking friends and positive wall-postings thought the profile owner was very good-looking and liked to add her as a friend to their own online network.
- Teens who saw the profile with many friends, thought Eline was more extravert, but not more attractive.