Guillermo Cabrera

Dr. Erin McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 13300
30 October 2016
Annotated Bibliography
Abstract:
I will be studying the relationship or treadmill between the use of the social media Facebook and
Instagram and a narcissistic behavior. Narcissism can be defined as excessive or erotic interest in
oneself and one's physical appearance. In this case I want to focus on the excessive interest in
oneself appearance and specifically on what other people think of one, so a human dependence
on what other people think of them. I am particularly interested in this topic because social
media is a very popular topic nowadays and specially posting things in Facebook or Instagram is
something our society is so related to or familiarized with. More deeply it really shocks me when
people post pictures of themselves and it is clear they just want the public to be talking about the
picture instead of posting it for themselves, for their own purpose. I am eager to find the extent
of this relationship and be able to understand people's behavior within the use of social media.
My audience is of course people with access to Facebook and Instagram with ages between 15
and 25, which are ranges that show the highest use of social media. I will be narrowing my
research to Facebook and specifically relying on narcissism. My research question is: To what
extent do social medias like Facebook invite a narcissistic behavior?
Sources:
Panek, Elliot T., Yioryos Nardis, and Sara Konrath. "Mirror or Megaphone?: How
Relationships between Narcissism and Social Networking Site Use Differ on Facebook
and Twitter." Science Direct. N.p., 4 May 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
This scientific study conducted by Panek, Nardis and Konrath, researchers from the
University of Michigan, examines the relationship between narcissism and Facebook and
Twitter usage. It also examines the narcissism types and how they differ within
students/teens and adults along with the idea of showing off while using diverse forms

available in Facebook to promote that. The audience of the study is probably students,
teachers or just simply the public in general that may be interested in the topic. The
context is based on a study conducted by professors from University of Michigan that
probably were interested in the high rise of social network use nowadays by everyone.
The nature of the article is of course finding the relationship between narcissism and
Facebook usage by conducting this study and gathering evidence to conclude. This source
has a lot of similar information as most of the other sources when focusing on
relationship between Facebook usage and narcissism. At the same time one of the other
sources used in fact took information from this source and cited it in the article itself
showing that this study is accurate and reliable. I see no limitations within the use of this
source and in fact it is probably the resource I will mostly rely on when doing my body
paragraphs.
Schaefer, Mark. "The six elements of human behavior that drive social media."
Businesses Grow. Schaefer Marketing Solutions, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This business article written by Mark Schaefer talks about how human behaviors drives
one use of social media. The author focuses on 6 different aspects that drive social media.
Of these 6 different elements 3 of them directly link to my topic, which is narcissism,
related to hedonism. The audience of this article is every social media strategist that could
be interested in understanding what thrives people's use of social media. This could be
helpful for companies to understanding how their consumers behave and think. The
purpose of the article relies on the whole nature of the website, as a business website it
has as purpose talk about business. The author is trying to state his key points in a way
that it can help social media strategists establish a path they may want to follow. In this
case this article will be important too but in a rather less powerful way for the
development of my paper since the whole purpose of the article has nothing to do with
my focus although the information it describes and states can be really useful for me to

better understand peoples behavior when using social media and could be useful for
making generalizations and establishing key claims in my introduction. As mentioned, a
possible limitation is that the article is focused on the business side of the social media
users behavior.

Stern, Aaron. The Narcissistic American. New York, NY, Ballantine Books, 1979.
This book written by Dr. Aaron Stern with a PH in philosophy talks about the general
narcissistic american. The book is full of subchapters and I focus specifically in Chapter
11 titled The Media: Greenhouse for Narcissistic Flowering. This chapter targets the
human skills and how the media conditions the development of a narcissistic behavior.
The audience of the book is basically every American citizen with the sufficient age and
education to understand the vocabulary used by the book that is in fact somewhat
difficult. The context of the whole book relies on the author and his general concern over
mankind. This directly links with the purpose of the book, which as the author states at
the first pages is his concern about mankind and our narcissistic reasoning. As the
author is a doctor with a PH on philosophy he strongly relates his statistical findings to
mankind because of his study of philosophy, which has to do with how humans behave in
the current world. This source is particularly different than all the other sources used due
to the fact that it focuses humans narcissistic behavior with a philosophical approach.
Additionally, the media the author refers to is basically television, newspapers and
magazines clearly because of the year it was published in. I think this source will be
valuable for me when I am introducing the idea of narcissism in human beings. Probably
the first paragraphs and the introduction of the paper along with background information
to better prepare the audience will be based on some information about this source. At the
same time as mentioned already, the fact that this book is so old could eventually have
evidence that is outdated and will not help me through the development of the papers so I
have to be careful in the ways I use the book in my paper.

Toma, Catalina. Is Facebook Really a Playground for Narcissists? Psychology Today,

29 Mar. 2015, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/virtual-you/201503/is-facebookreally-playground-narcissists.
This article written by Ph.D. in psychology Catalina Toma considers the extent to which
Facebook is a great media for narcissists. She talks about the behavior of narcissists and
how it transfers to his or her use of Facebook. Although to a certain extent narcissists
love the idea of Facebook and promoting themselves to the public, the author also
introduces the point that too much can seem to less attractive to the public. The audience
of this article is every Facebook user or person that may want to understand the behavior
of narcissists on Facebook. The context of the article lies beyond the idea that the doctor
and author wanted to introduce a rather new idea of how wonderful Facebook can be to
narcissists since it is not always as we think it is. The purpose and nature behind the
article was as mentioned to teach a new perspective to the audience based on
psychological findings derived by research. This source in one part connects with many
of the information gathered by the other sources but at the same time gives away new
information based on psychological findings. This source can be very important for my
paper for example when describing how narcissists use Facebook and the trends they are
most likely to use due to their thinking that will lead to a higher attention by the public
but that at the same time as the author describes in the source, can get to be tricky and not
necessarily as they would expect it to be. This source along with the some references
cited in the article will I asume be very helpful and likely used by myself. CA

Vigil, Tammy R., and H. Denis Wu. "Facebook users' engagement and perceived life
satisfaction." Media and Communication 3.1 (2015): 5+. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
This scientific study made by Dr. Tammy Vigil and Dr. Denis Wu from the University of
Michigan and Boston University shows the relationship between facebook usage and
users life satisfaction. The audience for this article in my opinion is high class young
adults or adults. The word choice employed by the article is clearly high level writing and

the fact that the authors are professors from known schools in the US make this article
study highly accurate since it demonstrates both authors really know what they are
talking about. The purpose is clearly to show the results of a study that was conducted in
order to probably suggest a trend that is probably knew or surprising for the audience. As
stated at the beginning of the article, it was found Facebook was used by teens to enhance
their self-esteem but the statistics do not add up to that which is what both authors are
trying to demonstrate through the study. The study is divided into several subtopics that
make it easy to follow and organize the data that was found to finally conclude the
findings at the end of it. I think this source will be really useful for me since I want to
specifically talk about the relationship between Facebook (or Instagram) and narcissism
and this source gives me relevant data to back some claims or key points I would want to
establish. Although the article was focused on satisfaction several of the questions asked
in the study show include narcissistic behavior that will be really useful. When answering
my focus questions, this source will be key to back up my statement with evidence and
numbers. A possible limitation with this source is that it only included students and older
adults may have different answers.
Quotes: In particular, respondents' interactions with photos and videos increase users'
dissatisfaction. This phenomenon may be due to the impact photos have on the ways
users engage in social comparisons with Facebook "friends" and the self-construals they
create based on these comparisons. A
Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society? - Social Networking - ProCon.org.
ProConorg Headlines, 18 May 2016,
http://socialnetworking.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionid=001614.
This website created by ProCon organization which is a source of pros and cons for
controversial issues answers the questions of social networking sites are good for our
society. This specific website article relies on information states by other authors that
either favor a yes or a no. So in other words the source is composed 100% by information
that was stated by other authors and works just a compilation of all the information
gathered either in favor or against. As a ProCon website the source has as a purpose give

two perspectives of the controversial topic. The audience could really be anyone that is
interested in this topic. Basically the nature of this source relies upon the website itself
that has a sole purpose behind each article it publishes. Each pro and each con is well
supported by its own author and every author is really reliable something that is
noticeable by its profession and authority. This source is totally different from each of the
sources chosen since it is a source composed of author sources which provides a wide
variety of perspectives and not only sticks to one. This source will be useful again only
when explaining my research paper and how the idea came to my head as well as when
explaining the power of social media before focusing specifically on Facebook and
Instagram. That is because of the fact that the information talks about the good or bad of
social media which is a good start for my research paper but will not help me in my body
paragraphs and when I have to state evidence and lots of analysis. I think this source can
also be helpful in case I need to provide a different perspective of my focus on the topic
so I can demonstrate how a controversy may appear. Again a possible limitation is that
the source has a very broad scope that will not help me develop my points in the body
paragraphs.