People use social networks to manage 'negative moods'

A new study has suggested that people log in to social network websites such as Facebook to manage their negative moods and look for people who are doing even worse.

The study conducted at Ohio State University gave more context to recent studies that found people who spend a lot of time on Facebook tend to be more frustrated, angry and lonely.

Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University, said that people in a negative mood, start showing more interest in the less attractive, less successful people on their social media sites.

The study involved 168 college students where researchers first put participants in a good or bad mood by having them take a test on facial emotion recognition.

The profile images were blurred so that participants could not see what they actually looked like and when the participants clicked on the profiles, they found that all the status updates were much the same and they were all relatively mundane and didn't discuss any career or academic success, physical appearance or romantic relationships.

Benjamin Johnson, co-author of the study, said that people had the ability to manage how they used social media.

The study is published online in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.