Does Facebook make you jealous?

Jealousy on Facebook

A study on whether Facebook makes you jealous, titled "More Information than You Ever Wanted: Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealousy?" has just come out. 

I've been thinking a lot about social apps and the way they change your relationship with people.  There have been people I would not really have talked to very long in person, that on Facebook seem fascinating.  On the other hand people that are interesting in person bore you on Twitter with "I am going to the bathroom" variety of tweets.  There are Facebook love stories, Twitter breakups, and Twitter stars.  What I have been wondering about is - do social apps change the relationship you would have normally had?

The study addresses one part of this conundrum, which is does Facebook make you more jealous than you normally would have been?  The study conducted by Amy Muise, Emily Christofides, and Serge Desmarais at University of Guelph using 308 undergraduate Facebook users  "revealed that increased Facebook use significantly predicts Facebook-related jealousy. We argue that this effect may be the result of a feedback loop whereby using Facebook exposes people to often ambiguous information about their partner that they may not otherwise have access to and that this new information incites further Facebook use. Our study provides evidence of Facebook’s unique  contributions to the experience of jealousy in romantic relationships".

This is certainly believable.  Very often Facebook (or Twitter) gives you only limited information, and if you misinterpret it, it could make you jealous.  For instance the recent exchange between Serena and Andy Roddick, while obviously playful, could also be misinterpreted, as Twitter is only a very shortened view of reality.  Then again, perhaps Facebook brings out the person that you really are, and just helps people express themselves in a way that they couldn't have, before Facebook came along.  

 Tech Policy and Happenings:  You may be interested in the reasons behind a recent Twitter outage, how we can track criminal activity on the Web (George Sodini video), Teens and Twitter,  the use of social networking in the military, American Innovation in Crisis , Why Government keeps getting Technology Wrong , Yahoo and Microsoft vs. Google , a recent look at consumer satisfaction with federal websites, Cybersecurity: an interview with Dan Risacher at  DOD - Part 1 and Part 2, and Cloud Computing with Pete Tseronis

Lighter Side of Tech:  For some more lighter tech stories, check out the abs and butt discussion between Andy Roddick and Serena, Palin's absence from Twitter, her Facebook statement, and how her hairdresser is speaking up for Palin, the  Twitter prediction for "So you think you can dance", adorable online cat stories, the $50,000 Tweet, modern day hero:the libertarian Facebook pig, which still on the lam., interviews with Twilight stars at Com Con, the Top Ten Fight Scenes and Top Free Movies on on YouTube,  Bill Clinton's video with JFK and his status updates on Facebook, best of Hulu, and the top 10 creepiest vintage ads.