Does Having A Covert Narcissistic Personality Affect How Facebook Is Used?

11.8 million British users (The Guardian 2011) go online, whether at home, work or elsewhere. There are different types of Internet use, including non-interpersonal communication use (e.g., entertainment) and interpersonal communication use (e.g., email and social media use). Of those Internet users, the average user spends 13 hours per week online. Of these 13 hours, the average user around the world spent more than five and a half hours on social networks in December 2009, up 200 percent from the same month in 2008.

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes", which are connected by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, common interests, financial exchange, dislikes, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs or knowledge. Social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc... gives users the ability to become part of a network of online friends that allows them to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends and/or create real–life friendships by joining groups/forums of those who share similar interests. In addition to blogs and fo¬rums, SNS users can express themselves by designing their own Facebook profile page to reflect their individual personality. For these reasons and more, 110 million Americans, or 60 percent of the online population, use social networks.

A variety of research throughout the years had sought to find out the many ways in which personality may affect an individuals’ media use patterns, in particular, on the internet or online (Hall, 2005). This could be due to the assumption that people behave differently in various social situations. These differences may affect how and why they use the...

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