Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

This review presents recent trends in social media and body image research, with a particular focus on different social media platforms, features unique to social media, and potentially positive content for body image. First, it was found that visual platforms (e.g. Instagram) were more dysfunctional for body image than more textual platforms (e.g. Facebook). Second, taking and editing (but not posting) selfies resulted in negative effects on body image. Positive comments intensified the effects of exposure to idealized content. Third, of the forms of potentially positive content examined in recent research (i.e. fitspiration, disclaimer labels, and body positivity), only body positivity content had a positive effect on body image. Recommendations for future research are offered.

Automated summary

This review examines recent trends in social media and body image research, focusing on different social media platforms, unique features of social media, and potential positive influences on body image. Visual platforms, like Instagram, were found to have a more negative impact on body image compared to platforms with more textual content, such as Facebook. Taking and editing selfies had negative effects on body image, while positive comments intensified exposure to idealized content. Among different types of potentially positive content, only body positivity content had a positive effect on body image. Suggestions for future research are provided.