Materialism and Facebook usage: Could materialistic and non-materialistic values be linked to using Facebook differently?

Materialism is a set of human values that places importance on the symbolic value of money or material goods. Furthermore, materialistic values have been associated with Internet usage, and also social media usage. The current research investigates this relationship further by specifically examining whether those with more materialistic values might use social media (Facebook) in different ways to those with less materialistic values. Self-report measures were collected from 108 participants. It was found that the higher the importance (extrinsic importance) attached to materialistic values, the more time spent posting photos, but the less time spent chatting on Facebook messenger and less time posting links. The higher the perceived likelihood (extrinsic likelihood) of achieving materialistic values, the more reported time posting status updates, but the less time spent chatting on Facebook messenger and less time posting links. Conversely, the higher the importance attached to non-materialistic values (intrinsic importance) the more reported time chatting on Facebook messenger, more time spent posting links, but less time spent posting photos. And the higher the reported likelihood of achieving non-materialistic values (intrinsic likelihood) the more reported time chatting on Facebook messenger, more time spent posting links, but less time spent posting status updates. However, neither self-reported time checking Facebook, nor self-reported attention paid to advertising were related to either materialistic or non-materialistic values. Overall, the findings indicate that certain activities on Facebook can be associated with both materialistic and non-materialistic values.