The relation between use intensity of private and professional SNS, social comparison, self-esteem, and depressive tendencies in the light of self-regulation

The present study's (N = 145) aim was to introduce a multidimensional behavioural report for assessing activity on the professional social network site (SNS) XING and to carry out a comparison with private SNS use (i.e. Facebook). Psychometric analyses revealed good internal consistency and construct validity of the new XING Activity Questionnaire. Results suggest that private and professional SNS use is positively correlated to people's ability-related social comparison orientation (SCO) and depressive tendencies on the one hand and negatively correlated to self-esteem on the other hand. In addition, both people's general SCO and opinion-related SCO were solely positively correlated to Facebook use. The findings are in line with the Social Online-Self-Regulation-Theory suggesting that people are using not only private but also professional SNSs for self-regulation.