Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

An Examination of Facebook Likes As a Function of Gender, Age, Relationship Status, and Typology of Post

Martin S. Fiebert, Brianna Cole, Leana Farris, Bryan Vu and Margo Kasdan

Facebook likes as a function of gender, age, relationship status, and typology were collected and tabulated over a four-month period. An individual’s posts that received the greatest number of likes were obtained from 100 Facebook users-- 50 men and 50 women; half younger than thirty, half over fifty; 43 single, 57 in a relationship. They were classified into one of four typological categories devised in previous research; viz., Scrap Booker, Social Butterfly, Activist, and Entrepreneur. The dependent variable, “likes received,” was calculated as a percentage of the number of an individual’s Facebook friends. Results from an analysis of variance and subsequent t-tests revealed significant differences for the variables of age, gender and typology. Specifically, women and older subjects received proportionately more likes than their opposites. No significant difference was found between single individuals and those in a relationship in terms of likes received. The most common type of post was the Scrap Booker.