Popularity on Social Media More Important to Men: Kaspersky
Jakarta. A recent survey by global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab shows that, in the era of social media and instant gratification, men are generally affected more than women by the responses they receive on social media.
The online survey was conducted among 16,750 men and women older than 16 years from across the globe, including 1,000 Indonesian respondents.
According to Kaspersky, 24 percent of men who participated in the survey said they worry about being regarded as unpopular by their friends, based on fewer "likes" on their social media posts.
In comparison, only 17 percent of women expressed the same concern.
While a total of 28 percent of respondents admitted to getting upset if a specific person did not like their posts, men seemed to be more affected, with 29 percent indicating that it did.
The survey result also suggests that 14 percent of men are likely to pretend to be somewhere they are not, to attract more likes. This shows that they would rather get attention on social media than portraying their true selves online.
Men are also more likely to share photos that may compromise the reputation of their friends, such as being under the influence of alcohol (15 percent) or wearing something revealing (13 percent). Only 8 percent of female respondents said they would share photos of their friends that are drunk, and 6 percent for friends wearing something revealing.
However, the study shows that social validation is equally important to both genders, with only 31 percent of respondents saying that they are not bothered by the number of likes they receive on social media.
More than half of all respondents (55 percent) also admitted to checking their social media posts more than once a day, while 24 percent said they felt a little envious if their friends liked another person's posts, but not theirs.
The study also indicates that social media triggers more jealousy and negativity.
"In their search for social approval, people have stopped seeing the boundary between what it is okay to share, and what is better kept private," Evgeny Chereshnev, head of social media at Kaspersky Lab, said in a statement received by the Jakarta Globe on Friday (03/02).
This relates to the tendency of people sharing more sensitive personal information about themselves online, which was part of the study.
Kaspersky found that 37 percent disclose their hometowns on social media, 31 percent share their e-mail addresses, 18 percent reveal their places of work and 14 percent give out their home addresses.
"The research shows that 58 percent of people feel uncomfortable and upset when their friends post photos of them that they do not want to be made public," Chereshnev added.
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