Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Purpose Of Facebook: The Value Of Facebook Friends In Increasing Self-Perceived Popularity, Michael J. Cronin

Honors Program Theses

A survey of 407 students was conducted at a medium-sized Midwestern university to examine what motivates college students to have friends on Facebook. The goal of the study was to see if people interact with more Facebook friends than they do offline friends on a regular basis and to see if the primary reason students become friends with others on Facebook is to increase their popularity. The results suggest that students do not become Facebook friends with others to increase their popularity, which is in contrast to previous research. Results were inconclusive in determining if people regularly interact with more …