Is Facebook a tool for narcissistic self-promotion? Here’s what I think

Facebook users are jerks.

According to a York University study in England, those of us included in the some 600 million users of the social networking site are narcissists.

"Narcissism is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance," the study reads. "It is associated with positive self-views of agentic traits, including intelligence, physical attractiveness and power."

Published in the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking journal, Facebook is a haven for the self.

The study surveyed 100 randomly selected students at York University (50 male, 50 female).

The study looked at the average use of Facebook compared with the personality of the user.

Its findings, as summarized by MSNBC:

• The more extreme the narcissism, the more time spent checking Facebook.
• The more extreme the self-loathing, the more time spent checking Facebook.
• Males were more concerned with the "About me" sections of their profiles.
• Women are more concerned with how good they look in their pictures.

The study is part of a larger examination of the use and role of social media and why people use it.

According to the study, social websites like Facebook offer "a gateway for hundreds of shallow relationships (i.e., virtual friends), and emotionally detached communication (i.e., wall posts, comments)."

This is absolutely true – indeed, many comments left on Facebook are often quickly made remarks about a status, a picture and other stimuli.

However, their value should not be discounted as narcissistic or shallow.

It's perfectly possible that friends, given they have some kind of offline connection, are merely interested in their friends' lives.

It also takes exception to why people would be interested in the prospect of being able to control their own profiles.

Profiles are "highly controlled environments that allow owners complete power over self-presentations," the study reads. "Users can convey desirable information about themselves (via features such as About Me, Notes, and Status Updates routinely found on social-networking sites) and can select attractive, self-promoting photographs.

This type of virtual arena allows narcissists to pursue an infinite number of trivial friendships and further enables them to boast self-views of positive agentic traits."

I can attest to this fact – but then again, why wouldn't I want to be in control of my own profile?

Those with access to my profile shouldn't have to see embarrassing pictures of me falling on the floor or bizarre moments at work late at night.

Instead, they can see pre-approved pictures – such as me fitting inside a high school science vent.

Image equals everything.

It isn't any kind of self-reflective notion to want to, in an environment you voluntarily enter, control how you appear.

Indeed, many uses of Facebook and other social networking sites – such as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc – have gone largely ignored but remain relevant.

When in college, Facebook can be about connecting with your friends and enjoying each other's whereabouts, their doings and their happenings.

When entering the professional arena, the profile can often be changed to a networking tool – allowing people to connect with potential employees, companies or professional organizations.

To disregard the professional aspect of these sites is almost to discredit the study itself.

In the hubbub that ensued after Facebook changed its privacy settings, I took full advantage of controlling what people saw of me and how they went about seeing it.

If I don't know you, I don't add you, nor do I let anyone see my profile. It's something I want to share with my friends and whoever I feel should have access to it.

More of these studies will continue to come out, often with the same message.

Facebook, like most tools, can either be a positive or negative influence in someone's life.

It can either be a tool used to communicate with long-lost friends, establish professional connections or just be an online hub for communication.

Another study, this time by a professor in the Netherlands, found distracted students using Facebook instead of studying can expect as high as a 20 percent lower grade than those of its more focused peers.

Of course, it's not the individual's apparent penchant for distraction and that Facebook happens to be another outlet for them to turn to that is at fault, but rather the evil social site.

Facebook can, whenever needed, also serve as an important research topic for those out to question a popular institution.

One thing I wonder – perhaps with the narcissist in me – how many of those researchers updated their profile linking people to their study?

Surely not.