The Study of Effective Factors on Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Usage in Iran

This research investigates the relations between personality traits, narcissism and Psycho-Social aspects of Facebook (FB) usage in Iran. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have attracted many users in the last two decades and become an unavoidably element of users’ everyday life. Facebook, as a biggest and the most popular SNS in the world, has many users in Iran too. However, there is not much research about the effects of Iranian users’ personality on their FB usage’s patterns. Hence, this paper tries to answer this question that how users’ personality traits shape their usage and affect the Psycho-Social aspects of that. I use the Big-Five trait taxonomy with NP-16 measure of narcissism as the theoretical framework. The Big-Five Inventory covers extraversion, neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness dimensions of personality and these traits with narcissism can provide a comprehend illustration of one’s personality. In order to measure the Psycho-Social aspects of FB usage, I have focused on the 5 facets: compensatory use of FB, self-presentation on FB, socializing and seeking sexual partners through FB, FB addiction and FB profile as the virtual self. The methodology of this research was online surveying. I designed and published the questionnaire by GoogleDrive.com and after 3 months, 354 answer sheets were gathered. Findings clarify the relations between each personality dimension with each aspect of psycho-social usage of FB. Moreover, the result provides an important set of information about the ways Iranians use FB.