Social Anxiety & Facebook Use: Research Presentation

Elizabeth Hagin, Robyn Abree, Ashma Jivani & Dustin Tunick - all master's students at the University of Georgia -- present their paper "Social Anxiousness and Facebook Use: Exploring the Uses and Gratifications of Social Networking in Socially Anxious Individuals." An online survey of 263 respondents was conducted at a large southeastern research university to explore how social anxiousness in interpersonal communication influences gratifications sought and gratifications obtained from Facebook use. The study drew upon the uses and gratifications theory to test Sheldon's unwillingness to communicate scale and Leary's social anxiousness interaction scale. Once analyzed, data revealed a relationship between motives of Facebook use and people who feel socially anxious. The study found that those who are socially anxious use Facebook for companionship more than those who are not. However, there were no significant finding that respondents use Facebook simply because it is cool. Overall, this study only offered minor proof that social anxiousness does in fact play a role in elevated Facebook use. This research was conducted as a part of Dr. Kaye Sweetser's fall 2010 JRMC 8010 graduate Research Methods class at UGA's Grady College.Their full research report is available at http://podcasting.gcsu.edu/4DCGI/Podcasting/UGA/Episodes/21370/13986.pdf

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