Facebook ‘likes’ found to have little influence on wellbeing

“Like” this article? We might “like” a lot of things on Facebook, but giving or receiving “likes” on the social media platform does little or nothing to influence our actual wellbeing.

A new study involving students at University College Cork has found that Facebook likes do not predict depression among users and overall, do not have any impact on how we feel.

The study ‘Life Vs Likes: The Influence of Receiving Facebook Likes on Social Capital and Depression’ involved 189 undergraduate students completing an online survey, followed up by focus groups. Those who completed the survey were aged 18 to 58. The study looked at social capital, or connections between people and social networks.