New preprint on Facebook and loneliness!

This paper has been on the back burner since 2015. It is a short report examining Facebook network characteristics and their relationship to loneliness. It was part of a research project by Marit Eidt, who is now a portfolio manager of a start up in Amsterdam, and Riana Brown, who is now at NYU. At the time, we were able to use the GetNet app, a modified version of Netvizz. This tool allows extracting an individual’s social network and mapping it. Participants answered, among other things, some questions on their loneliness. We then examined how this related to structural properties of their Facebook Network. Perhaps, (un)surprisingly we found no suggestion that calculated social network metrics, such as density or average path length, were related to loneliness. The only variable which was meaningfully associated with loneliness was the number of Facebook Friends. The more friends listed the lower the reported loneliness score was. Obviously we only scratched the surface and had a fairly limited sample but hopefully this short research report will inspire future research. The paper is currently under review, so fingers crossed. (Image credit, https://techcrunch.com/2015/05/29/facebook-confirms-it-will-officially-support-gifs/)