Social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook, provide abundant social comparison
opportunities. Given the widespread use of SNSs, the purpose of the present set of studies
was to examine the impact of chronic and temporary exposure to social media-based social
comparison information on self-esteem. Using a correlational approach, Study 1 examined
whether frequent Facebook use is associated with lower trait self-esteem. Indeed, the results
showed that participants who used Facebook most often had poorer trait self-esteem, and�…

Social media is changing the nature of social comparisons and impacting self-esteem.
Participants who were most invested in Facebook had poorer trait self-esteem due to greater
exposure to upward social comparisons (Study 1). Moreover, state self-esteem and relative
self-evaluations were lower after viewing fictitious upward comparison Facebook profiles
(Study 2).(PsycEXTRA Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)