Will Using Social Media Benefit or Harm Users’ Self-Esteem? It Depends on Perceived Relational-Closeness

Prior research concerning social media use and self-esteem showed inconsistent findings. In the current research, two studies were conducted to examine the moderating role of perceived relational-closeness between social media use and self-esteem, and the underlying mediating mechanisms. In Study 1 (a quasi-experimental study), by assigning participants to the weak (reporting TikTok use intensity) or strong (reporting WeChat use intensity) relational-closeness condition, we found that using social media with weak relational-closeness harmed users’ self-esteem, while using social media with strong relational-closeness benefited users’ self-esteem. Moreover, participants in the strong relational-closeness condition reported higher social support perception and self-esteem than those in the weak relational-closeness condition. Further analyses showed that upward social comparison mediated the relationship between social media use and self-esteem in the weak relational-closeness; in the strong relational-closeness condition, upward social comparison and perceived social support both mediated the relationship between social media use and self-esteem, but perceived social support played a dominant role in the mediating effects. In Study 2 (an experimental study), we presented the same examination experiences-sharing for all participants. We found that, even exposed to the same stimuli, participants in the strong relational-closeness condition (declaring that the experiences-sharing was extracted from QQ) still reported higher social support perception and self-esteem than those participants in the weak relational-closeness condition (declaring that the experiences-sharing was extracted from Bilibili). The current research provided a possible explanation to reconcile previously inconsistent findings about social media use and self-esteem.