For Better Or Worse, Emotions Are Infectious on Facebook

It was only a few months ago that Princeton researchers ignited social media hysteria by comparing Facebook to an infectious disease to predict its decline. While the panic was probably premature, a study from PLOS One suggests that Facebook may be more like an infectious disease than we realize.

The study, which used data from Facebook users between 2009 and 2013, discovered that both positive and negative moods can be infectious. While positive posts result in more positive posts, the same is true of negative posts.

“Each additional positive post decreases the number of friends’ negative posts… and each additional negative post decreases the number of friends’ positive posts,” the study says.