Putting their Best Foot Forward: Emotional Disclosure on Facebook

• Main Authors: QIU, Lin, LIN, Han, LEUNG, Angela K. Y., TOV, William
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Facebook; social media; disclosure; self-representation; emotions; college students; emotional well-being; Personality and Social Contexts; Social Media; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1172; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2428/viewcontent/Putting_their_Best_Foot_Forward_Emotional_Disclosure_on_Facebook_afv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Facebook has become a widely used online self-representation and communication platform. In this research, we focus on emotional disclosure on Facebook. We conducted two studies, and results from both self-report and observer rating show that individuals are more likely to express positive relative to negative emotions and present better emotional well-being on Facebook than in real life. Our study is the first to demonstrate impression management on Facebook through emotional disclosure. We discuss important theoretical and practical implications of our study.