When Facebook is easier than face-to-face: Social support derived from Facebook in socially anxious individuals

• Engaging face-to-face is difficult for individuals with social anxiety (SA).
• We examined whether social support can be derived from a social networking site.
• SA group reported less offline social support than the non-SA group.
• SA and non-SA groups reported similar Facebook (FB) social support.
• FB social support, not offline social support was related to well-being in the SA group.

While the psychological benefits of social support are well-established, it is also clear that for many socially anxious individuals, engaging with face-to-face social networks is problematic. This research examined whether social support derived from an online social network (Facebook) had incremental value in predicting subjective well-being over and above offline social support in socially anxious and non-socially anxious individuals. Individuals with high (N = 105) and low (N = 194) social anxiety completed measures of perceived social support, perceived social support derived from Facebook, and subjective well-being. For the high social anxiety group, Facebook social support explained a significant amount of additional variance in subjective well-being, with offline social support failing to contribute significantly to the model. For the low social anxiety group, Facebook social support did not explain any variance in well-being over and above offline social support. Possible implications of the utility of Facebook for socially anxious individuals are discussed.