Scientists who studied social networks, specifically Facebook activity and mortality rates in California, found that people who received many friend requests were far less likely to face death for more than a year compared to those who did not receive requests. However, initializing a friend request seems no have effect at all on death rates, according to researchers.
The findings of the study were published in the proceeding of the National Academy of Science, led by the Northeastern University professor Williams Hobb and the University of California, San Diego, professor James Fowler, showed that there are links between people's health and their social media accounts, whether in person or online.
“We find that Facebook users who accept more friendships have a lower risk of mortality, but there is no relationship for those who initiate more friendships,” Prof Hobb wrote. “Mortality risk is lowest for those with high levels of offline social interaction and moderate levels of online social interaction.” Hobbs believes people who have moderate interactions on the social networks, especially Facebook, are more likely to remain friends with them in person.
According to NY Daily News, Hobbs and Fowler took data over six months from 12 million California-based Facebook users in 2011 and compared them to records from the California Department of Public Health from 2012 to 2013 to check how many people died within those years. Those Facebook users, of all genders and ages, were born between 1945 and 1989.
The scientists concluded that there was no link between people’s health and the Facebook requests they have sent and those who accepted them. “You would think that the association would go both ways,” Hobb said in the newsletter . “That was a disappointing finding because it suggests that telling people to go out and make more friends might not improve their health.”
