Sociometric Attractiveness on Facebook*

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding about impression management and social attractiveness on social network sites (SNS). In particular, we focus on Facebook, one of the most popular SNS providing opportunities for social interaction online. To date, research has studied the benefits of SNS, the relationship between Facebook use and the maintenance of social capital, as well as several concepts associated with SNS use, including identity, privacy, behavior, motivation, technology and relationship development. Those findings suggest that features of a SNS user's profile - such as the profile picture, friend network and profile content - can affect that user's social attractiveness, which prior research implies is closely associated with evaluations of popularity, interpersonal attraction and social judgments. Similar to social evaluations in face-to-face situations, some SNS users' profiles are deemed more socially attractive than others. This study analyzes how profile information on Facebook influences a user's perceived social attractiveness. Specifically, this study examines how a user's number of Facebook friends and how the number of photos a user is tagged in might affect that user's perceived social attractiveness. In an experiment involving both graduate and undergraduate university students, almost all of them familiar with Facebook navigation, we find that the number of Facebook friends significantly impacts social attractiveness, with a higher number of friends producing more positive social attractiveness scores. The number of tagged photos is found to be an important determinant of social attractiveness only when considered alongside the number of friends. Interestingly and perhaps unexpectedly, we also find that gender influences social attractiveness scores, with women perceived as more socially attractive when they have more friends, and men perceived as more socially attractive when they have fewer friends. One potential explanation for the gender-related findings in our study is that a gender double standard may exist in the judgment of social attractiveness on Facebook. Our study suggests a need for further research on the gender issue and the extension of social attractiveness to other SNS, such as Twitter.