06 April,2014 10:51 AM IST | | Agencies
Twitter lists contacts as ‘followers’, a sign that it is arrogant in nature, says a new study on social media
London: A new study has revealed that people who regularly communicate on Twitter are more narcissistic than those who keep on updating statuses on Facebook. Shaun Davenport, the main researcher, and his colleagues said that though people carry on "conversations" using Twitter, the medium is designed for one-way interactions where users "tweet" information to their contacts.
The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour. Pic/Image library/EPA
The researchers said that the contacts are called "followers" on the micro-blogging site rather than the more egalitarian label of "friends" on Facebook. According to the study, as narcissists have an inflated self-view and engage in a variety of strategies aimed at bringing attention to themselves, the features unique to Twitter may be more appealing to them than those on sites such as Facebook.
The researchers added that it may be due to affordances made by each platform, as Facebook allows narcissistic users to make friend requests directly, while Twitter users typically acquire followers by garnering interest in the tweets that they generate. The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.
