Whenever you feel uncomfortable or unsure about sharing an experience or a scary medical news with your friends, quickly typing few words on Facebook or Twitter can be an alternative to restore the sense of well-being, and remove pessimistic feelings, claims new research.
"When people feel bad, they have a need to reach out to others because this can help reduce negative emotions and restore a sense of well-being," said Eva Buechel, Professor at the University of South Caroline in the US.
"But talking to someone face-to-face or on the phone might feel daunting because people may worry that they are bothering them. Sharing a status update on Facebook or tweet on Twitter allows people to reach out to a large audience in a more undirected manner," said Buechel.
The findings published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology explained that involving in social networking platforms was can benefit people who have become socially isolated or uncomfortable in face to face interaction.
Sharing a small post/ message to the people through social media is called microblogging.
For the test to find out how microblogging would be effective for people who are socially isolated, one group of participants were asked to write about a time when they had no one to talk to at a party and the other group (control group) was asked about office products.
Then, the participants, who had an online social network account, were asked to log in and spend two minutes on their preferred social network. I was seen that those who were more socially apprehensive microblogged more than others.
"There is a lot of research showing that sharing online is less ideal than having communication in person, but these social networks could be an important communication channel for certain individuals who would otherwise stay isolated," said she.
While it is not always advisable to give all personal information or interact with strangers on social networking platform, if used wisely it would help to vent out negative emotions and find solutions for personal problems.
Inputs from IANS
