Social comparison on facebook and its effect on an individual's well-being

Abstract

Social comparison is the process through which people compare their opinions, abilities, behaviours and emotions with those of others for selfevaluation and to obtain an external guide for themselves. There is wide evidence that social comparison is a pervasive behaviour, particularly among adults, both in their social life and in online relationships established through Social Network Sites. A growing number of studies show unmistakably that online social comparison through social media can influence people's everyday life. Features such as Facebook's News Feed or Instagram's Daily Stories provide a stream of information about friends' lives, achievements, abilities and personality, creating a perfect environment for social comparison to take place. Researchers have therefore begun to examine more closely how social comparison operates on Social Network Sites, given that social media allows users to constantly monitor what friends are doing and talking about, and how others are responding. In this chapter, online social comparison is analysed from a social psychological perspective by examining the classical theories and the most recent theoretical contributions of the construct, and above all by highlighting the main differences in interpretations about its occurrence in face-to-face and social media contexts. Recent perspectives on clinical outcomes and mental health are also discussed.