Using Facebook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror, according to a study.

最新研究表明，使用Facebook社交网站就如同在镜前自我欣赏。

Those who spent more time updating their profile on the social networking site were more likely to be narcissists（自我陶醉者） , said researchers.

Facebook provides an ideal setting for narcissists to monitor their appearance and how many ‘friends’ they have, the study said, as it allows them to thrive on ‘shallow’ relationships while avoiding genuine warmth and empathy（共感，神入） .

They also tend to use the site for promoting themselves to friends or people they would like to meet, the study concluded.

Researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh from York University in Canada asked 100 students, 50 male and 50 female, aged¹ between 18 and 25 about their Facebook habits.

They all took psychology² tests to measure their levels of narcissism³, which the study defined as ‘a pervasive⁴（普遍的） pattern of grandiosity⁵（宏伟，夸张） , need for admiration⁶, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance’.

Those who scored higher on the narcissism test checked their Facebook pages more often each day than those who did not.

There was also a difference between men and women – men generally promoted themselves by written posts on their Facebook page while women tended to carefully select the pictures in their profile.

The findings, published in the journal Cyberpsychology（网络心理学） , Behaviour And Social Networking, also suggested that those with low self-esteem also checked their Facebook pages more regularly than normal.

This may not be altogether surprising as it is widely thought, however contradictory⁷ it may appear, that narcissism is linked to a deep-rooted lack of self-esteem.

Miss Mehdizadeh admitted that not everyone would appreciate her findings.

She said: ‘I think people get sort of defensive⁸ about it – like, “I don’t use my Facebook for that reason” – because it’s a label that you don’t want to be slapped with.’

Facebook has more than 500 million users worldwide and is the world’s biggest social networking website, but it has been involved in a number of controversies⁹.