Facebook and psychology: What we know so far

Dr Ciarán Mc Mahon,
Dublin Business School
Department of Learning Sciences Seminar Series,
Dún Laoghaire Institue of Art, Desgin & Technology,
October 28th, 2010.

Statistics (Facebook.com, 2010)
More than 500 million active users
50% of active users log on daily
over 700 billion minutes spent per month
over 900 million objects (pages, groups, events etc.)
Average user
has 130 friends
is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
creates 90 pieces of content each month
More than 70 translations available
70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

Academic study
66 peer-reviewed papers thus far have dealt with Facebook as their main topic
In 2007, 3 papers
In 2008, 16 papers
In 2009, 26 papers
Thus far in 2010, 18 papers
Analysis excludes book chapters, conference papers etc.

Academic study
unsurprisingly, Facebook has been discussed most in cyberpsychological/computer-mediated communication oriented journals
8 papers in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
7 papers in Computers in Human Behavior
and 7 papers in Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking

Academic study
but also papers in:
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Journal of Media Psychology
Journal of Medical Ethics
Psychological Science
Journal of Community Psychology
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Academic study
wide variety of topics
several different methodological approaches
a number of research programmes have been developed
average 2.8 authors per paper
no major debates, yet

Authors (via wordle.net)

Notable programmes
Michigan State, Dept. of Communication,
Joseph Walther, Brandon Van Der Heide, Nicole Ellison
Harvard, Dept. of Sociology
Kevin Lewis, Jason Kaufman
University of Windsor, Dept. of Psychology,
Jaime Arseneault, Emily Orr, R. Robert Orr,

Notable omissions
no danah boyd
no BJ Fogg
no peer-reviewed papers on Facebook in either case

Article titles (via wordle.net)

Population

Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2007)
one of the earliest published articles (earlier presentations)
“Facebook Usage Intensity Questionnaire” later used by many others
268 undergrads (66% female, 44% male)
overwhelmingly used Facebook
to keep in touch with old friends
to maintain or intensify relationships characterized by some form of offline connection
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of facebook "friends:" social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-1168.

strong association between use of Facebook and bridging, not bonding, social capital
bonding social capital is between individuals in tight relationships, such as family and close friends
bridging is "weak ties," which are loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support

usage was found to interact with self-esteem
might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self esteem and low life satisfaction
supports a "poor get richer" hypothesis, as opposed to the "rich get richer"

Hargittai (2007)
Are there differences between people who:
use social network sites and those who stay away, despite a familiarity with them?
use different social network sites?
Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster
1060 first year undergrads, 18/19 y.o. (56% f, 44%f)
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 276-297.

Hargittai (2007)
1060 first year undergrads, 18/19 y.o. (56% f, 44%f)
Hispanic s more likely to use MySpace than are Whites
Asian and Asian Americans less likely to use MySpace
Asian Americans more likely to use Xanga and Friendster than Whites
students whose parents have lower levels of schooling more likely to use MySpace
whereas students whose parents have higher levels of education are more likely to be Facebook users.
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 276-297.

Gangadharbatla (2009) ‘Facebook me’
reasons for joining and participation
237 undergrads (44% male, 56% female)
positive influences on attitudes toward SNS from
Internet self-efficacy,
need to belong,
and collective self-esteem
no role for need for cognition
Gangadharbatla, H. (2008). Facebook me: Collective self-esteem, need to belong, and internet self-efficacy as predictors of the iGeneration's attitudes toward social networking sites. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8 (2), 5-15.

Fogel & Nehmad (2009) ‘risk taking, trust, and privacy’
Myspace and Facebook
face-to-face survey (collected 2007)
205 undergrads (103 male, 102 female!)
SNS users had significantly greater risk taking
men had significantly greater risk taking scores than women.
women had significantly greater scores than men for privacy concerns
but there were no gender differences for privacy behavior or privacy attitudes.
Fogel, J., & Nehmad, E. (2009). Internet social network communities: Risk taking, trust, and privacy concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(1), 153-160.

Population

Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao (2009) – ‘ethno-racial identity displays on Facebook’
content analysis of 83 Facebook profiles
supplemented by 63 in-person interviews (34 m, 29f)
African Americans, Latinos, and Indian ancestry students
revealed more intensive production of identity construction
White and Vietnamese students
showed much less involvement
Grasmuck, S., Martin, J., & Zhao, S. (2009). Ethno-racial identity displays on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1), 158-188.

Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao (2009) – ‘ethno-racial identity displays on Facebook’
Quotations –
African Americans
infused with inspirational quotations about racial injustice
Latino
religious and inspirational quotes
untranslated Spanish quotes
Indian
long entries involving thoughtful and humorous themes
ethnic pride often signaled through Gandhi
White and Vietnamese
almost never selected quotes that signaled racial or even ethnic identification
Grasmuck, S., Martin, J., & Zhao, S. (2009). Ethno-racial identity displays on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1), 158-188.

Judd & Kennedy (2010) Five-year study of campus internet use
Australian five-year study (2005–2009) of biomedical students’ on-campus use of the Internet
Internet usage logs
Email primary method of electronic communication
steep drop in use during 2006 and 2007
Corresponds with rise in Facebook usage
only minimal use of other social networking sites
Judd, T., & Kennedy, G. (2010). A five-year study of on-campus internet use by undergraduate biomedical students. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1564-1571.

Your Profile

Buffardi & Campbell (2008)
Does narcissism predict activity on Facebook?
129 subjects (100 female?)
128 raters coding webpages (86 females, 42 males)
scores on Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) compared to raters’ assessment of participant’s narcissism on Facebook profile pages
Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and social networking web sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(10), 1303-1314.

Buffardi & Campbell (2008)
Narcissism related to
higher levels of social activity in the online community (sexier photographs, more self-promoting content etc)
correlation with quantity of text in ‘About Me’ lower than elsewhere
Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and social networking web sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(10), 1303-1314.

Mehdizadeh (2010) ‘narcissism and self-esteem’
100 Facebook students (50 male, 50 female)
undergraduate project
Rosenberg self-esteem & Narcissism Personality Inventory (NPI)-16.
Facebook pages content analysed (single coder!) for ‘self-promotion’
Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 13(4), 357-364.

Mehdizadeh (2010) ‘narcissism and self-esteem’
Number of times Facebook checked and time spent on Facebook
positively correlated with NPI-16
negatively correlated with self-esteem
Males displayed more self-promotional information in the About Me and Notes
women displayed more self-promotional Main Photos.
Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 13(4), 357-364.

Back et al. (2010) ‘Facebook profiles reflect actual personality’
236 (ages 17–22 years) from the United States (Facebook; N = 133, 52 male, 81 female) and Germany (StudiVZ, SchuelerVZ; N = 103, 17 male, 86 female).
self-reports & reports from 4 well-acquainted friends & ideal self-reports, and profile observer reports
Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21(3), 372-374.

Back et al. (2010) ‘Facebook profiles reflect actual personality’
results were consistent with the extended real-life hypothesis
observers should be able to accurately infer the personality characteristics of profile owners.
neuroticism least accurate (difficult to ascertain in zero-acquaintance contexts)
Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21(3), 372-374.

Zhao, Grasmuck & Martin (2008) ‘Identity construction’
63 Facebook accounts (students)
coding scheme developed for content analysis
identities on Facebook compared to those in the nonymous offline environments or the anonymous online environments
claim their identities implicitly rather than explicitly
stress group and consumer identities over personally narrated ones
Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S., & Martin, J. (2008). Identity construction on facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1816-1836.

Facebook is a nonymous online setting, where users are required to reveal their real names in a fixed institutional context, which explains why users tend not to treat it as a venue for expressing their ‘‘hidden selves” or marginalized or contested identities.
Zhao, Grasmuck & Martin (2008, p. 1831)
Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S., & Martin, J. (2008). Identity construction on facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1816-1836.

Ross, Orr, Sisic, Arseneault, Simmering, & Orr (2009)
university’s psychology participation pool
97 Ss (15 men 82 women)
NEO-IP vs self-reports of Facebook use
high Extraversion group reported membership in significantly more groups
high on the trait of Neuroticism reported that the Wall was their favourite Facebook component,
low on Neuroticism preferred photos
higher levels of Openness to Experience were associated with a greater tendency to be sociable through Facebook.
“relatively few significant findings in relation to the personality variables” (p. 582)
Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 578-586

Amichai-Hamburger & Vinitzky (2010)
based on Ross et al. (2009); similar hypotheses
method from Zhao et al. (2008)
coding of user profiles & NEO-PI-R
237 students (101 male, 136 female)
stronger support of Ross et al’s (2009) hypotheses
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., & Vinitzky, G. (2010). Social network use and personality. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1289-1295.

Amichai-Hamburger & Vinitzky (2010)
extroversion and conscientiousness
related to number of friends
introverts
more personal information on their profiles
high neurotic
more likely to post pictures of themselves
less likely to post other pictures
openness linked to more expressiveness on profile
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., & Vinitzky, G. (2010). Social network use and personality. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1289-1295.

Kluemper & Rosen (2009) ‘employment selection methods’
63 students in an employment selection course (49% m, 51%f)
After a 1 hour training session
raters accurately distinguished between individuals on
four of the big-five personality traits,
intelligence,
and performance.
Hence, it is very easy to see if someone is employable from their profile
Kluemper, D. H., & Rosen, P. A. (2009). Future employment selection methods: Evaluating social networking web sites. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(6), 567-580. .

Your Friends

Lewis & West (2009) ‘friending’
qualitative 16 Ss (7m, 9f)
semi-structured interviews
London undergrads
why and how they joined and used Facebook
all joined through peer group
all mentioned initial excitement
looking at profiles,
and adding friends
being added as a friend,
none admitted to competing to ‘collect’ friends
Lewis, J., & West, A. (2009). ‘Friending’: London-based undergraduates’ experience of facebook. New Media & Society, 11(7), 1209-1229

all the respondents reported checking profiles, also known as ‘stalking’...
Stalking has little to do with building social relationships, but two respondents called it ‘addictive’. For example, three female respondents reported that either they or their friends followed what ex-boyfriends were doing by checking their profiles. For five respondents this appeared to account for a majority of the time spent on Facebook. (Lewis & West, 2009, p. 1215)

A male respondent told the story of a female student he had been ‘fond of’, but had not seen for many months after she left the university, even though she continued to live in London and they continued to communicate via Facebook. When he bumped into her one day on the street, he found that they had little to say – there was no catching up to do.
Lewis & West (2009, p. 1216-1217)

Two female respondents reported that initially they had tried to fill in all the personal information boxes on their profiles, but had decided to opt for a more minimalist approach because they disliked the impression that it conveyed: ‘I tried once, re-read it and thought, “Fuck no!”’ (Hannah); this respondent added that her aim was to contact friends rather than to publicize herself.
Lewis & West (2009, p. 1222)

Adding Friends

Cohen (2008, p.10) – ‘political economy of Facebook’
On Facebook, almost all member activity can be conceived of as immaterial labour that benefits the company. A major task upon which Facebook is based is “adding” friends, which is the act of linking to other people’s profiles and forms the basic design of the site. The work of adding friends is also Facebook’s main growth strategy.
Cohen, N. (2008). The valorization of surveillance: Towards a political economy of Facebook. Democratic Communiqué, 22(1), 5-22.

Walther, van der Heide, Hamel, & Shulman (2009) – ‘warranting theory’
Which is more important – what you say about yourself, or what others say about you?
warranting principle predicts that users attach greater credence to information that is immune to a target’s manipulation compared to targets’ self-descriptions
mocked up profiles to manipulate extraversion (study 1) and attractiveness (study 2)
Walther, J. B., Van Der Heide, B., Hamel, L. M., & Shulman, H. C. (2009). Self-generated versus other-generated statements and impressions in computer-mediated communication: A test of warranting theory using facebook. Communication Research, 36(2), 229-253.

Attractive statements included
“Haven’t seen you since that great party last weekend...my friends from home thought you were hottt!,”
“Hey gorgeous (or “Hey mister”), you looked gr8 last night, youre bringing sexy back” [sic].

Unattractive statements included
“dont pay attention to those jerks at the bar last night, what matters is on the inside!”
“Im so sorry things didnt work out with that blind date you went on, who knew she (or “he”) would turn out to be so shallow” [sic].

some support in the extraversion condition, much stronger support in the attractiveness condition
post-hoc analysis revealed that the profile was deemed to be
less honest when he or she claimed to be attractive (with friends agreeing, or disagreeing)
more honest claimed to be unattractive (with friends agreeing, or friends disagreeing)

...it appears that one’s own claims of attractiveness are suspect on Facebook. In terms of attractiveness judgments, on the other hand, one’s friends’ comments carry the weight.
Walther, van der Heide, Hamel, & Shulman (2009, p. 248)

Walther, Van der Heide, Kim, Westerman and Tong (2008) – ‘the company we keep’
Unsurprisingly, physical attractiveness of profile owner’s friends affects the evaluation of the profile owner.
also, postings of friends affect the evaluation of the profile owners.
statements had a significant impact on ratings of the social attraction and credibility of the profile owner.
Walther, J. B., Van Der Heide, B., Kim, S., Westerman, D., & Tong, S. T. (2008). The role of friends' appearance and behavior on evaluations of individuals on facebook: Are we known by the company we keep? Human Communication Research, 34(1), 28-49.

Walther, Van der Heide, Kim, Westerman and Tong (2008) – ‘the company we keep’
however, there was an unexpected gender interaction with regard to negative statements
sexual innuendo, excessive drinking
increased desirability of the male
decreased desirability of the female
sexual double standards alive and well on the internet!
Walther, J. B., Van Der Heide, B., Kim, S., Westerman, D., & Tong, S. T. (2008). The role of friends' appearance and behavior on evaluations of individuals on facebook: Are we known by the company we keep? Human Communication Research, 34(1), 28-49.

Wang, Moon, Kwon, Evans, & Stefanone (2010) – ‘face off’
what affects willingness to accept friendship?
compared attractive, unattractive and no-photo conditions
both male and females were more willing to initiate friendships with opposite-sex profile owners with attractive photos (surprise!)
but, relatively more willing to make friends with without a photo than an unattractive photo
Wang, S. S., Moon, S., Kwon, K. H., Evans, C. A., & Stefanone, M. A. (2010). Face off: Implications of visual cues on initiating friendship on facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2), 226-234. .

Tong, Van der Heide, Langwell & Walther (2008) – ‘too much of a good thing’
how many friends is best?
experimented with 102, 302, 502, 702, and 902 ‘friends’
found a curvilinear relationship between number of friends and an individual’s social attractiveness
peaks at about 300 friends
however, no relationship found between number of friends and physical attractiveness
.

Your Posts

Peluchette & Karl (2010) – ‘what were they thinking?’
reasoning behind posting behaviour
very much tied to image user is trying to portray
Males
were more likely to say their profile portrayed a sexually appealing image
also more likely to post ‘problematic’ content
Peluchette, J., & Karl, K. (2010). Examining students' intended image on facebook: "what were they thinking?!". Journal of Education for Business, 85(1), 30-37..

Peluchette & Karl (2010) – ‘what were they thinking?’
those who felt they portrayed
a hard-working image were least likely to post ‘problematic’ content
a fun or intelligent image not related to posting of ‘problematic’ content
a sexually appealing, wild, or offensive image were most likely to post inappropriate content
Peluchette, J., & Karl, K. (2010). Examining students' intended image on facebook: "what were they thinking?!". Journal of Education for Business, 85(1), 30-37..

Karl, Peluchette, & Schlaegel (2010) ‘Facebook Faux Pas’
US and German sample
those high on
conscientiousness,
agreeableness,
and emotional stability
significantly less likely to post problematic content
high on Compulsive Internet Use were more likely to post Facebook faux pas
US students in general were more inclined to post problematic content
Karl, K., Peluchette, J., & Schlaegel, C. (2010). Who's posting facebook faux pas? A cross-cultural examination of personality differences. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 18(2), 174-186.

Your Privacy

Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis (2008) ‘taste for privacy’
large dataset 1709 profiles of university students
factors that are predictive of a student having a private versus public profile
more likely to have a private profile if their friends and roommates have them;
women are more likely to have private profiles than are men;
private profile is associated with a higher level of online activity
Lewis, K., Kaufman, J., & Christakis, N. (2008). The taste for privacy: An analysis of college student privacy settings in an online social network. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(1), 79-100.

Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis (2008) ‘taste for privacy’
private profiles associated with certain ‘cultural preferences’:
more taste in ‘popular music’
less frequent taste in classical music

Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis (2008, p. 94)
While we have documented a number of discrete tastes associated with privacy and sets of tastes associated with publicity, the particular content of these cultural profiles is not always easy to interpret. What does Tchaikovsky, for instance, have in common with Joseph Heller or Bridget Jones with Ray Charles? Moreover, why are the former associated with public profiles and the latter with private ones?

Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis (2008, p.94)
Consequently, students with these tastes may want them to be especially visible.... In other words, if the content of what is displayed is entwined with the propensity to display itself, online privacy is not just about those who keep Goffman’s stage curtain tightly drawn. It is also about those who throw it wide open—where a performance tells as much about the performer as about what she wants the audience to see.

Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn & Hughes (2009) ‘attitudes and behaviours’
119 undergrads (68% female), survey, also interview
Users claimed to understand privacy issues, yet reported uploading large amounts of personal information.
Risks to privacy were ascribed more to others than to the self
Facebook engrained in daily life, benefits outweigh risks
One interviewee had account hacked several times, deleted profile twice, and still came back..
Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J. P., Horn, A., & Hughes, B. N. (2009). Facebook and online privacy: Attitudes, behaviors, and unintended consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1), 83-108.

Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn & Hughes (2009, p. 99)
Yet six months later, his profile was attacked again, this time with a shot at his girlfriend. The hackers used the same manipulated profile picture, but added the character Donkey from the movie Shrek and tagged Donkey as Brian’s girlfriend. Brian deleted the profile again, and set up another profile with a nonschool e-mail and strict privacy settings. The whole incident left him guessing who did it and why. He also said that he was very upset about the incident, particularly because his girlfriend became the target too. It is remarkable that Brian stayed with Facebook and kept coming back to it again and again.

Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn & Hughes (2009, p. 103)
Most users do not seem to realize that restricting access to their data does not sufficiently address the risks resulting from the amount, quality and persistence of the data they provide. After all, restricting profile visibility to ‘‘friends only’’ simply means restricting it within the visible part of the iceberg. As long as users feed the invisible part of the iceberg with extensive personal data that they update voluntarily and continually, their privacy is at risk.

From Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn & Hughes (2009, p. 88)

Christofides, Muise, & Desmarais (2009) ‘disclosure and control’
343 (81 men, 261 females) undergraduates
privacy, disclosure, control
participants perceived that they disclosed more information about themselves on Facebook than in general,
but also that information control and privacy were important to them
information disclosure and information control were not significantly negatively correlated,
disclosure was significantly predicted by the need for popularity
levels of trust and self-esteem predicted information control
Christofides, E., Muise, A., & Desmarais, S. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(3), 341-345.

Christofides, Muise, & Desmarais (2009, p. 343)
... these findings suggest that there is something different about the ways in which people act when interacting in the Facebook environment as compared to other means of communication. Perhaps it is because Facebook creates norms regarding what specific information information to disclose based on what others have disclosed. It is an environment where information is shared proactively and in response to others.
Christofides, E., Muise, A., & Desmarais, S. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(3), 341-345.

The News Feed

Hoadley, Xu, Lee & Rosson (2010) – News Feed
... no new information is revealed; people are able to see changes if they choose to visit their friends’ Facebook pages. News Feed did not change restrictions on access to information.
Hoadley, Xu, Lee & Rosson (2010, p. 52)
Hoadley, C. M., Xu, H., Lee, J. J. & Rosson, M. B. (2010). Privacy as information access and illusory control: The case of the Facebook News Feed privacy outcry. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 9(1), 50-60.

majority (68%) had at least some degree of negativity
29% of respondents felt ‘‘very negative”
though the new interface provides easier information access, it was widely perceived to provide less privacy.
even though this was not the case – why?

found that those who changed their privacy settings afterwards were actually those who found the change most negative
these users were also more likely to have more friends

It seems reasonable to argue that Facebook users’ privacy-related behaviors ... are more likely to be influenced by their concerns over the amount of information being accessed ..., instead of concerns over being released... This point bears repeating: users seem to be much more concerned about what personal information is likely to be accessed than what personal information it is possible to access.
Hoadley, Xu, Lee & Rosson (2010, p. 58)

Rather than blocking dissent, Facebook transforms resistance into productivity... The site incorporates users’ knowledge into its development, which retains members (perhaps instilling them with a sense of ownership in the site, or at least a sense of the importance of one’s voice) and affirms the critical importance of an active membership.
Cohen (2008, pp. 12-13)
Cohen, N. (2008). The valorization of surveillance: Towards a political economy of Facebook. Democratic Communiqué, 22(1), 5-22.

Grimmelman (2009, p. 120)
Users want and need to socialize, and they act in privacy-risking ways because of it. We cannot and should not beat these social urges out of people; we cannot and should not stop people from acting on them. We can and should help them understand the consequences of their socializing, make available safer ways to do it, and protect them from sociality hijackers.
Grimmelman, J. (2009). Saving Facebook. Iowa Law Review, 94, 1139-1205.

Disclosure

Health sciences

Concerns from medicine
Even with cautious privacy settings, physicians should not assume they can use online forums for social purposes only, as unforeseen breaches of privacy barriers may have a significant impact on their professional roles and relationships.
Guseh, Brendel & Brendel (2009, p. 585)
Guseh, J. S., Brendel, R. W., & Brendel, D. H. (2009). Medical professionalism in the age of online social networking. Journal of Medical Ethics: Journal of the Insitute of Medical Ethics, 35(9), 584-586.

By creating a new environment for individual and group interaction, social-networking sites also create new challenges for those who work in clinical settings. Take, for example, ... the dermatology resident who is asked on a date by a clinic patient after he learns from her online profile that she is single — information that he would have hesitated to draw out of her in person.
Jain (2009, p.650)
Jain, S. H. (2009). Becoming a physician: Practicing medicine in the age of facebook. The New England Journal of Medicine, 361(7), 649-651.

MacDonald, Sohn, & Ellis (2010)
338 recent medical graduates in New Zealand
65% had Facebook accounts
24% were publicly accessible
group of interest
66% still active online in the preceding week
high proportion of users revealed location
MacDonald, J., Sohn, S., & Ellis, P. (2010). Privacy, professionalism and facebook: A dilemma for young doctors. Medical Education, 44(8), 805-813.

... a notable minority belonged to ... groups that we defined as potentially unprofessional (e.g. ‘F*** medicine – I want to be a ninja’, which was ‘dedicated to medics who are sick and tired of the prospect of a hideously long training time, lack of respect, poor hours and rectal exams on elderly gentlemen’.
MacDonald, Sohn, & Ellis (2010, p. 809)
MacDonald, J., Sohn, S., & Ellis, P. (2010). Privacy, professionalism and facebook: A dilemma for young doctors. Medical Education, 44(8), 805-813.

Concerns from psychiatry
For psychotherapy, one of the reasons to avoid self-disclosure to patients is to minimize interference with transference, which may be an essential component of the therapeutic process. If patients connected to psychotherapists on a social networking site are able to see pictures, videos, comments, and browse through the different relationships of their therapist, the transference process will be more challenging if not impossible.
Lou (2009, p. 20)
Lou, J.S. (2009). The Facebook phenomenon: Boundaries and controversies. Primary Psychiatry, 16(11), 19-21

Concerns from clinical psychology
Taylor, McMinn, Bufford & Chang (2010)
online survey of licensed psychologists and psychology graduates
695 participants, (114 male, 580 female)
majority appeared to be graduates
a majority of the survey’s respondents reported thinking about the ramifications of ethical behaviour on Facebook
also that they had either rejected or ignored friend requests from clients
but also often posted photographs or videos of themselves online
Taylor, L., McMinn, M. R., Bufford, R. K., & Chang, K. B. T. (2010). Psychologists’ attitudes and ethical concerns regarding the use of social networking web sites. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 41(2), 153-159.

Some respondents noted that they occasionally found pictures of clients on the Web sites of their friends or family members, and that they had no prior knowledge of these relationships. A few participants even reported that they had been matched to current or former clients through anonymous dating Web sites.
Taylor, McMinn, Bufford & Chang (2010, p. 158)

... psychologists with the least amount of professional experience will be facing some of the most complex situations regarding the distinction between professional and private information. Normally, early career psychologists could look to more experienced psychologists in situations such as this, but if the more experienced psychologists do not understand the nuances of SNWs, they are not likely to be able to provide helpful consultation on this matter.
Taylor, McMinn, Bufford & Chang (2010, p. 157)

‘Like’ is a noun

‘Friend’ is a verb

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.

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Facebook and psychology: What we know so far

by PsychBook Research on Nov 04, 2010

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Facebook and psychology: What we know so far — Presentation Transcript