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Facebook, one of the most popular forms of social media can play an even bigger role for users other than just looking at each other's photos and liking each other's posts. This website can either be one's savior or just another source of stress depending on how its used, according to a new study that found these effects on users. The study done by a research scientist from the company, Facebook (US:FB) Moira Burke asked users about general life and family questions, and she found that many people used Facebook as a means of getting a job, despite the chance of increased stress.

Burke surveyed 3,000 Facebook users regarding events, stress levels, and support based on everyday activities. Of the 3,000 people, 169 users recently lost their jobs. Burke found a relationship between having strong versus weak connections on Facebook and the ability to find a job through the social media. She concluded that it was not the quantity of ties that users had but rather, the quality of these ties that can lead people into getting a job. The stronger one's connections were with other users, the higher the chance that the person can find a job through networking. Burke found that people with strong ties had a 33.2% chance of finding a job through the use of the website. That percentage fell to 15.6 percent for the average user and 6.5 percent for users with weak connections.

"People who talked more with strong ties were twice as likely to find a new job within three months. And those who talked more with weak ties were less likely to find a job," Burke wrote on her Facebook page. "One possibility is that people don't actually hear about job openings from their weak ties on Facebook. People may not reveal their employment plight to contacts they don't feel close to. Weak tie stories might be able less important topics, like the Superbowl or their vacation."

Despite this finding, Burke also recorded that unemployed people with stronger ties also reported to have higher stress levels. Burke observed the relationship between people with strong ties and inferred that since this relationship leads to topics that are more serious, people might have a negative experience overall. Therefore, when people talk about unemployment, which is a dicey topic, the unemployed person might feel extra stressed and possibly even resentment toward the other person.

Based on this research, Facebook appears to have an even larger role for some users now. However, the research study was done by the company and a larger sample set might be more informative.