Facebook have defended itself against claims that using the site can damage your health. The impact of Facebook has come into the press recently which was discussed recently.

The social media giant have now said in a blog post that whilst there is evidence to suggest that the site can damage wellbeing. Facebook can also be a positive experience. Use the site positively, get a positive return. Kinda like how Karma works. If Karma is a thing.

Internal Debates

David Ginsberg, Facebook’s director of research, has allegedly said that there are continuous internal debates of how their users are using their website. While discussing how the time spent on their website was in fact good/bad for people:

“Just like in person, interacting with people you care about can be beneficial, while simply watching others from the sidelines may make you feel worse.” 

So, that being said, be more active and positively engaging with the people in your social network helps a user to feel better.

Ginsberg also stated that the social media giant are working on ways to turn users into active users. While not being just social media voyeurs.

Facebook Emotions

Dr Bernie Hogan, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, has called into question, Facebook’s theory. Hogan has researched extensively Facebook’s effect on it’s users and doesn’t see how Ginsberg’s theory will work.

“They are saying that the solution is more interactivity, more personal feedback and less broadcasting. The problem is that they are engineering tools for more broadcasting.”

Hogan’s daming response to Ginsberg’s suggestion to use Facebook positively to feel positively, does make sense. It does raise a few questions as to how it will work.

The only way to see, is to do it in practice.

So we’ll see.