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Widespread on social networking sites (SNSs), envy has been linked to an array of detrimental outcomes for users’ well-being. While envy has been considered a status-related emotion and is likely to be experienced in response to perceiving another’s higher status, there is a lack of research exploring how status perceptions influence the emergence of envy on SNSs. This is important because SNSs typically quantify social interactions and reach with metrics that indicate users’ relative rank and status in the network. To understand how status perceptions impact SNS users, we introduce a new form of metric-based digital status rooted in SNS metrics that are available and visible on a platform. Drawing on social comparison theory and status literature, we conducted an online experiment to investigate how different forms of status contribute to the proliferation of envy on SNSs. Our findings shed light on how metric-based digital status influences feelings of envy on SNSs. Specifically, we could show that metric-based digital status impacts envy through increasing perceptions of others’ socioeconomic and sociometric statuses. Our study contributes to the growing discourse on the negative outcomes associated with SNS use and its consequences for users and society.
Visual Social Networking Sites (SNSs) enable users to present themselves favorably to gain likes and the attention of others. Especially, Instagram is known for its focus on beauty, fitness, fashion, and dietary topics. Although a large body of research reports negative weight-related outcomes of SNS usage (e.g., body dissatisfaction, body image concerns), studies examining how SNS usage relates to these outcomes are scarce. Based on the visual normalization theory, we argue that SNS content facilitates normalization of so-called thin- and fit-ideals, thereby leading to biased perceptions of the average body weight in society. Therefore, this study tests whether Instagram use is associated with perceiving that the average person weighs less. Responses of 181 survey participants confirm that Instagram use is negatively related to average weight perception of both women and men. These findings contribute to the growing body of research on how SNS use relates to negative weight-related outcomes.