Are Guys Supplementing Porn with Facebook?
An interesting article on The Daily Beast suggests that an increasing number of men are choosing to look at regular, fully clothed pictures of girls on Facebook than naked or pornographic images.
Facebook stalking is a common occurrence. When dating someone new, many people see nothing wrong with doing a spot of good ol' page-perving. Checking out their photos, seeing what kind of music they like; it's there for everyone to see, so what's wrong with browsing though it in your spare time? As long as you're not leaving creepy comments or prying too much, you're not hurting anyone.
The Daily Beast's Amanda Marcotte points to the research of Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski. Piskorski was interested in finding out why people spend so much time on the likes of Facebook, so he looked into the weblogs of social networking sites to see what people did when they were online.
Harvard's Sean Silverthorne cites Piskorski as saying his biggest discovery was pictures.
"People just love to look at pictures," Piskorski said. "That's the killer app of all online social networks. Seventy percent of all actions are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people's profiles."
Piskorksi lands briefly upon the common belief that people post pictures of their happy selves having a good time to show popularity without boasting. However, he also suggests another reason people spend the majority of their time on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites looking at photos.
Piskorski found that the biggest usage categories are men looking at women they don't know, followed by men looking at women they do know. In fact, all told, women receive two-thirds of all page views. A lot of guys in relationships are looking at pictures of women they don't know and even the women look at women, though they mostly seem to look at images of people they do know.
Amanda Marcotte came across this research while asking a bunch of her male friends what percentage of men they believed regularly looked at porn. While most said the high-90s or even 100 percent, one said he felt more men were looking at Facebook pictures instead of porn, at least some of the time. For this reason, he put the percentage of men who look at porn regularly at 60 percent.
“Most [women I look at on Facebook] I have some history of at least fooling around with, but never going all the way,” one man told Marcotte. Another was slightly more open about what he does on Facebook. He said that you couldn't stare at a woman's cleavage on the street but on Facebook you can.
"You can stare as long as you want to—nobody's going to get mad because it's not them, it's just a picture," he says before adding, "I can print out, bookmark and/or download the images I see on Facebook to look at again and again and again."
Marcotte's friend said he thinks the theory is that the women on Facebook are real often people that you might have a real-life attraction to. Another guy she spoke to said looking at porn seems gross and impersonal while looking at pictures of girls on Facebook feels "semi-enlightened, in a way."
It's definitely an interesting theory. Given the amount of women and men I know who openly admit to checking out the pages and photos of people they're interested in, it's a trend that could really be on the up. One friend I spoke to said he knows guys who do it but said he believed it was more of a supplementary thing. It's not that it's better than porn, it's just different. I also asked my brother, who is an anthropologist. From his personal point of view he said, "I'd like to think that everyone who does it would look at themselves and say, 'Holy sh*t this is so creepy.'" However, from an anthropological point of view he says it's perfectly understandable that men would want to look at women who are attractive and attainable rather than the models they see on television and in magazines.
Do you think it's something a lot of men (or women) do? Do you think there's anything wrong with it? Let us know in the comments below!
Read the full Daily Beast Story here.
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Porn sites are all the same. Silicon enhanced, fake situations showing the same thing over and over and over ad naseum. When you hit up a social site you are seeing "the girl next door", a "normal person in a normal environment", this is a lot more interesting than the porn world. Remember the Sears catalog, pictures of your friends sisters? A lot more imagination in play here.
The whole idea is more lolz to me than anything. I've never thought anything of looking at pictures on Facebook, but apparently Facebook is the new Hustler?
I don't know of a serious way to respond to this.
get a life
I looked at Jane's facebook photo because I like kitten abuse.
So sue me.
There's a basic question I ask whenever I read about some actress who won't do nude scenes, or how a movie is made better by NOT showing something.
If I'm supposed to use my imagination, what do I need you for?
I can idealize whatever I want in my head, for free. Not even an Internet bill required. If that was BETTER than actually seeing something, then the world has been duped into paying to see stuff for centuries.
A quick reality check says that it remains 'bad' to admit to wanting to see certain things, but looking at something safe is OK to discuss in public. Animating pictures in your head so they get interesting may amuse some people, but it's not high on my list...
Now I've got nothing wrong with looking at a few pictures, but some of what those guys were describing was downright creepy. And on a side note, women should be more careful what they put on Facebook and the likes. Just sayin'.
I would say the article is spot on.
To the guy above me... Yea I am part of those people... and I have a damn good life
Even that last South Park episode only scratched the surface of the negatives found within the entire social networking scene. Are there positives? Certainly. Are there negatives? Oh you betcha! I just can't comprehend why anyone would want their entire lives on public display for anyone to dissect. That is, unless you're "into" that sort of thing...
It's just plain creepy in so many ways. It's things like this that make me feel glad I don't take part in the world of social networks.
Some ppl post their lives on facebook - inviting everyone to look at it. If you're interested in a person and they offer lots of info whats wrong with looking at it? You gonna test drive a car before buying it... Nobody is forced to have a facebook account... you just gotta be aware of consequences from what you display in your profile...
The [male] imagination is far more powerful than any picture. Any pictures that try and replace what the [male] imagination would regularly do get old fast.
(Edit my comment was towards nielnield)
If one keeps their albums and pics open to all, they are simply being silly.
Got a few albums but all is restricted to friends... and I don't have 1000 friends like a lot of "Trying to be popular people"
i agree 100% with the article. and it's not that we are a bunch of pervert guys looking at women. it's like you see a beautiful girl in the street, you just want to see it again. well, in fb you can do it. anytime.
The whole thing is a bit uncomfortable to me. I'm not a priest or anything but it puts me in an awkward position when a friends daughter posts bikini pics of herself. I'd rather not think about my friends daughters, or nieces or cousins that way. I've had to unfriend some of them, or tell their dads they might want to have a look at their daughters facebook to maybe put a stop to it.
Now, when an old girlfriend does the same, it's no so bad
Of course, most of the time it reminds me that my wife is way hotter than any of my old flames. They usually either got fat or psycho.
China will ban Facebook soon (or have they?)
Facebook? Isn't that one of those social networking whozimajigs?
Seriously though, so if a chick posts half nude pictures of herself she is supposed to be offended by lude activities that take place as a consequence (that the viewer does to themselves in the privacy of their own home)?
[quote]However, from an anthropological point of view he says it's perfectly understandable that men would want to look at women who are attractive and attainable rather than the models they see on television and in magazines./quote]
Sums it all up right there, although if your getting off to the pics on FB you have a problem.
So many things wrong with this.....
I do look at the pictures. Just of my high schools peope. I just want to see how they turned out (look wise), family and friends. Beside, they are not your "friend" per say. How many of them do you actually talk to on a regular basis. That tells you how many true friends you have.
You know, I never thought of that before, but I kinda do this too! I call it "chick surfing".
Is it wrong? Meh, it's not like I'm doing eecky stuff while doing so. I'm not some kind of creepy stalker. BTW Jane, nice piercings!
BTW Jane, nice piercings!
Hah, thanks!
I have never had a Facebook and never will thank God.
Men like to look, woman like to show.
Who cares if somebody wanks off to a photo of you (or your girlfriend/sister/mother/daughter/friend)? As long as nobody finds out, there is no harm done here. How is it even creepy? Its not like people don't fantasize about other people they know all the time. Now they just have pictures too.
y the hell does Toms report this crap ...?
Men like to look, woman like to show.
Ahhh... the beautiful cycle of life.
What I find amazing is that he actually had to do research to find out that men spend most of the time on the social networking sites looking at pictures???? Men have always been visual, especially when it comes to women.
i spend time on fbook because of the marketplace, it astounds me how much time my friends spend on fb with no real purpose
Amatuer porn ftw.
No. Next question please.
Lol, I'm baffled some people really think watching porn is normal but watching (half) dressed women on social facebooking sites is freaky ...
Watching porn has simply been accepted into out cultures since we're now finally admitting we're all doing it, and in some time scouring Facebook for hot babes will be too. It's not like girls put their sexy posed bikini pics on there by accident, they want the attention, they want confirmation they're hot. And maybe the'll learn a thing or too when they get stalked by freaky weirdo's that want to meet up and have some "java".
As for me, I've always liked suggestive clothing better than porn. Porn is so obviously fake and made, plus it leaves nothing to the imagination. I like to fantasize about that girl next door, trying to find some hidden message in her "Hey" and "Bye's". Seeing her undressed would be nice for a second, but it would ruin everything in the long haul because there's nothing left to imagine.
That said, I don't supplement porn with Facebook since I'm not on social networking sites (besides Hyves), but you bet I'll click a cute girl anytime
+1