THE REASONS NARCISSISTS PORTRAYED THEMSELVES ON FACEBOOK

Abstract

The increased use of Facebook has transformed the way people interact. People can use the Facebook to upload photos, share photos and create profile pictures easily and, to most users; it offers a simple way of spreading opinions. In fact, photo uploads receive 84% more link clicks than text and link posts, and 104% more comments than the average post. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore how narcissists visualize themselves in Facebook. From this study, the question of how they are portraying themselves in Facebook and why they are uploading and sharing photos in Facebook will be discovered. Data were collected through focus group discussions and were analyzed using a thematic analysis. A total of 20 respondents were selected using simple random sampling from different age. The results showed that most respondents used their own photo to visualize themselves in Facebook. In addition, these results showed that respondents tend to use photograph not only to portray their looks, but also to highlight the things and qualities that were important for them besides to get an attention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.