Facebook users engaged in alcohol-related pages likelier to drink

A new study indicated that Facebook users that are more involved in alcohol-related pages or posts are likelier to drink alcohol.

The study conducted at Michigan State University suggested that the more engagement, the greater their chances are of wanting to drink.

The study approached more than 400 participants were asked their feelings after they encountered and responded to alcohol-related Facebook items.

Saleem Alhabash, an assistant professor of advertising and public relations, said that what they found was that if people actually feel so engaged with that message and want to do something about it - like, share or comment - that it makes the likelihood of them thinking about drinking even greater.

The research subjects were shown three Facebook pages - one that was an alcohol marketing Facebook post paired with a display promoting drinking; another coupled with an anti-drinking public service announcement; and another coupled with a non-drinking ad, such as an ad for a bank.

The team found that the participants who were interested in liking, sharing or commenting on the alcohol marketing messages showed greater intentions to consume alcohol and this was especially true when the marketing message they viewed already had high numbers of likes and shares from other Facebook users.

Researchers found that when an alcohol-related status update was paired with an anti-drinking message, the person viewing it was more likely to consider drinking.

Alhabash said that barriers to underage youth seeing alcohol ads online are "minimal" and social media, by law, cannot target alcohol-related content to those under 21, but once it's out there one does not own it and it can't be controlled what happens to it.