Women's Facebook Photos: A Mix Of Psychology & Photography

It’s no surprise that the whole Facebook photo tagging phenomenon is continuing to affect our daily lives and how we view each other. Facebook is officially the world’s largest photo album, and if you do a search on this site for Facebook, you’ll see that we’ve written about the psychology behind it many times.

I’m glad I have somehow avoided getting sucked into that whole thing. I have about ten photos posted on Facebook. I have girlfriends with several hundreds of photos posted. It’s not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just that sometimes they are constantly posing for pics not to celebrate the day, but for the sole purpose of posting them on Facebook. Something about that is strange to me.

Although studies show women are more obsessed with Facebook photos than men, men still get into it too. This article on Men’s Psychology offers tips to men about how to post just the right pictures to make the women swoon. A year or two ago, we just looked at people who posted a lot of party pictures on Facebook as being insecure or obsessed with their appearance.

However, now that posting and tagging Facebook photos has almost become part of our culture, it’s like a seventh sense we all have. Our online persona, and how we present that to the world, is becoming a large part of who we are. Since many women post pictures just to get a reaction from men and to get attention, it once again glorifies how important it is to have a certain type of body and just the right physical appearance. New studies suggest that many women have their self-esteem and self-worth wrapped up in these photos and the reactions they get from them.

The sources I have for this information are linked below if you would like to read more about this fascinating psychology. I have some friends like @radiopotato1 and @krystynchong who post a lot of pictures online, and I really enjoy looking at them. It helps me stay in touch with what’s going on in their lives, and I love to see their smiling faces in my feed. Both of these women are very strong individuals with a healthy sense of self in my opinion. So, there are obviously some exceptions to the rule. Not every person who posts a lot of pictures on Facebook is doing it solely to get attention from the opposite sex.

Ladies, I have a question for you. Does posing for pictures that will be posted on Facebook actually change how you behave in public? Some people would say the answer to that question is yes the majority of the time. All of the photographs in this post were taken by Dina Litovsky. She examines how women are influenced by smartphone cameras and social networking sites. She says, “The women photographed are not just permitting but actually performing for the camera; it connects them, the virtual exhibitions, to a vast anonymous audience.” You can view more of Dina’s work at Dina Litovsky. What’s your opinion of all this?