Are we happy yet? Facebook's National Happiness Index tracks our mood
Filed under: Company News, Economy
We probably don't need Facebook to tell us that Thanksgiving is one of the happiest days of the year, but that's among the conclusions found in the new Facebook Gross National Happiness index. And you probably wouldn't be shocked to see huge spikes in happiness on Mother's Day, the Fourth of July and Christmas.Though unsurprising, the index's results confirm the principal reason we join social networking websites in the first place -- to meet and interact with friends and family. But the results also show how we are beginning to use sites like Facebook and Twitter as national gathering places during major events, including when major tragedies strike.
To build the new index, Facebook researchers culled the stats from two years of anonymous "status updates" from the site's 100 million users in the United States. Adam D. I. Kramer, a University of Oregon student who created the index, told The New York Times the index could be "the first step in reorienting the nation's sense of self-worth."
"If we know money doesn't buy happiness," Kramer asked, "why are we optimizing for money?" In other words, we know what makes us happy, so why do we spend so much time working for other things?
On his blog, Kramer said Facebook "adapted a collection of positive and negative emotion words built by social psychologists," including positive or happy words like "happy," "yay" and "awesome," and negative or unhappy words, such as "sad," "doubt" and "tragic." The company said it also conducted "a brief survey of some Facebook users, which showed that people who use more positive words, relative to the number of negative words, reported higher satisfaction with their lives."
The index found that Facebook users are happiest on traditional days of celebration and thankfulness, when families and friends have customarily gathered.
"Some of the happiest days include U.S. national holidays like Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, social holidays like Halloween and religious holidays including Christmas and Easter," the researchers found. "Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 -- when the U.S. was celebrating the election of President Barack Obama -- was over twice as happy as the average Wednesday."
The depth of the index's data illustrates just how much raw personal information millions of Americans are sharing online. It's no wonder some people have flat-out refused to join, in order to protect their privacy.
Cameron Marlow, the head of Facebook's 10-member research department told the Times's Noam Cohen that, "The type of things that people reveal on Facebook are the kind of things that sociologists have tried to collect through surveys for decades."
"Say I want to understand how the divorce rate is changing -- for a social scientist to produce a report on this, it would take a team of researchers, a company to collect the data," Marlow said. But on Facebook, Cohen observed, "people routinely provide such information in great detail as it happens in their lives."
The irony of the new index is that some people, including my colleague Anthony Massucci, are beginning to wonder if social media isn't making us less social and thus less happy. Just last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that as society becomes more networked we as individuals will become less happy, because we'll always feel like we're "behind" as we face an ever-increasing onslaught of information from a wide variety of sources.
"There is evidence that humans as a group are less happy with more information because of ambiguity," Schmidt stated rather matter-of-factly. "Society will be much better, but individuals will be less happy because they'll feel more behind. My own advice to you is that there is an off button and it's important."
Hundreds of millions of people have flocked to social networking services like Facebook and Twitter as a way to share the effluvia of their daily lives. But social media is still in its infancy, and one wonders whether -- once the novelty wears off -- we all won't wind up a bit less happy, no matter how many positive tweets we send about Thanksgiving.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-12-2009 @ 2:26PM
Jim said...
It is a great holiday because we are not all slaves to having to shop and get everyone that perfect gift, while dumping tons of money we dont have or running up all of our charge cards. Were not bombarded with how many more shopping days there are left till thanksgiving. It is not religiously based. It allows us to remember our past, where we came from, and to think about being thankful for what weve got and remember that there are many people much more unfoutunate than ourselves. It also seems to be a time when we tend to give more of ourselves and hlep others,. even if it is not for more than just one meal. The original thanksgiving was a time when people bridged the cultural and racial gaps to come together in peace. Thats something that seems to be getting us farther and farther apart during our day to day lives. Essentiallly it is a little less selfish holiday. One we could use more of.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:25PM
Simzee said...
Well said. Now the problem is is that on Thanksgiving day....EVERYONE is worried about what they will BUY on BLACK FRIDAY. Everyone will go to bed real early to get up at 2am to be at STORE 5 minutes later. The STORE will open at 7am. Crazy people.
10-13-2009 @ 12:31AM
Donna said...
BOYCOTT MONEY! BE IT PLASTIC OR PAPER! GIVE THE GIFT OF A HUG, A KISS, AND YOUR COMPANY IN THE ROOM, AMEN!
10-12-2009 @ 2:47PM
donnarae said...
Well said, Jim. Thank you. The reasons you stated so well is the reason I like Thanksgiving so much.
Happy Thanksgiving to any Canadians that are reading.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:09PM
LisaS said...
For me, it's the most wonderful holiday because it is centered on the people who know you the deepest (and STILL love you!), and lastly but not least importantly, it is (or was meant to be) centered on giving thanks to the One who grants us food on our tables! There was a time when just having something to eat was an incredible blessing. We've become a nation known for obesity! Let's give "to the least of these" instead of shoveling more foods that will only be digested in a toilet. VOLUNTEER in an area where they are needy and thankful. This is the heart of Thanksgiving.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:17PM
Sierra Bailey said...
Thanks, Jim, for sharing your thoughts.
However, it is in fact religiously based - notwithstanding its attribution to the Pilgrims, it was first celebrated around 1560 AD by settlers in Florida. Hopefully that won't dissuade you from being thankful or enjoying Thanksgiving Day and everyday to its fullest.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:44PM
Roger said...
As an immigrant, I have always loved Thanksgiving. It is non-denominational in a lot of ways and most people who are not christians (like me) can celebrate it and reflect on the year and appreciate the friends and family.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:28PM
yellowsunshine14 said...
While I think Thanksgiving is a more pleasant and less stressful holiday than Christmas, if you think about the facebook status aspect of it, many people are going to have "happy thanksgiving" as their status on Thanksgiving because, well, thats the typical saying. In my opinion the study is flawed, its not telling us if people are really happier, just that they have certain words displayed in their statuses on certain days.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:47PM
Colleen said...
I personally hate Thanksgiving. It's one time of the year I am literally forced to sit in a room full of family and eat with them. I live with my family, and being forced to be a room full of turkey and other foods I abhor eating, let alone looking at, makes me sick. I hate tradition, and I hate the smell of turkey. Happiest time of the year? Sounds like BS.
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10-12-2009 @ 5:59PM
Tracy said...
Glad I don't know you! HAHA
10-12-2009 @ 6:13PM
Tom said...
H*ll, just go and do some volunteer work at a local organization that helps give the less fortunate a good Thanksgiving meal. You sound like the kind of relative that the others would not like to have around anyway.
10-12-2009 @ 3:50PM
Lillian said...
Makes sense that Thanksgiving would be a happy day for everyone. Every person on the planet can give thanks and be happy on that day, and the big rush of the holiday season has not really started up at that point, so we are all relaxed and enjoying being with family and friends, with the first big meal of the season before us.
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10-12-2009 @ 3:58PM
Lillian said...
Colleen....girl, you have got some deep, dark issues to deal with if you think that way starting with Thanksgiving. What do you do with the rest of the holidays after that? We all may not love every person in our family, but they are family just the same, and family means everything. We need family at different times throughout our lives, without them, we would have nothing.
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10-12-2009 @ 8:45PM
Colleen said...
While I appreciate your comments, you don't know my family. Support is the last thing we give, and it's been that way for a long time. It's the one time of the year my dad ignores this, and it's uber stressful for other members of my family as well.
10-12-2009 @ 8:18PM
Tony said...
No family and have not celebrated any holidays for many years...least of all dead bird day.
Holidays are just media hype prompting people to spend...spend ....spend.
10-12-2009 @ 4:05PM
ignazio B said...
Please don't try to patronize us with lies !!!!!
Christmas is still number one best day of the year for 85 % of Americans and 98 % for Europeans .
No ifs no buts.
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10-13-2009 @ 11:38AM
hmthrco said...
Iggy...you're crass and bitter outlook betrays you. Maybe you ought to move to Bangladesh.
10-12-2009 @ 4:06PM
maria said...
you give thanks to all the serves men who helped us and you give thanks to america who brought you here for family and god amen
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10-13-2009 @ 12:20AM
Donna said...
Maria, I give thanks to my mother and father for getting me where I am in life, my mind frame!I GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR GIVING ME THE STRENGTH TO LIFT MYSELF UP! AND I PREY TO GOD TO HELP ALL OUR SERVICE MEN, BECAUSE OUR GOVERNMENT IS BRINGING AMERICA DOWN! ASK A VIETNAM VET! WE THE PEOPLE, ARE BEING LED DOWN A SLAUGHTER SHOOT, BY THE NOSE, LIKE CATTLE!
10-12-2009 @ 4:25PM
hatconnection said...
It is a great Holiday where maybe for once families get together and enjoy each other saddly enough most have little or no time for family and Family clearly should be the mot valuable part of everyone's life
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