Networking sites aid in social identity

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, help young users form their social identity as they grow into adulthood, U.S. sociologists said.

In the lives of many young people, especially teenagers, the sites are more than just platforms for information exchange, said Urs Gasser, head of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

"In the lives of young users, they play a more fundamental role in the constitution and expression of self," Gasser said.

Meanwhile, researchers at Zurich University say a 2007 study at Michigan State University erred in determining that social networking sites make people more satisfied with their lives, Swissinfo reported Tuesday.

The Michigan State study failed to factor in personality types, the Zurich researchers said, noting extroverts are more motivated to use social networking sites and the Michigan State findings, therefore, should only be applied to that personality type.

"If you put extroversion into the Michigan equation the connection that the researchers found becomes spurious," said Bertolt Meyer, senior associate in social psychology at the Institute of Psychology at Zurich University.