The unfiltered truth about social media: Associations between popular platforms and women's body image

Research on the impact of social media on body dissatisfaction reveals inconsistent findings and lacks platform-specific data, particularly for TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. This study examined the associations between social media use across different platforms and body image, mood, exercise behaviours, and internalisation of thin and fit appearance ideals. A sample of 282 women aged 17-30 years from Australia completed an online questionnaire about their social media use, body image, mood and exercise behaviours. Results indicated that greater frequency of social media use significantly correlated with appearance comparison and thin ideal internalisation. Greater frequency of image-based platform use (TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube) significantly related to greater appearance comparison, thin ideal internalisation, fit ideal internalisation, and anxiety, but not with body dissatisfaction. By contrast, frequency of text-based platform use (Facebook, X) showed no significant associations. Following thin-idealised social media content (e.g., fashion, beauty) was associated with greater thin ideal internalisation, whereas following fit-idealised content (e.g., fitspiration) was associated with greater fit ideal internalisation and compulsive exercise. Appearance comparison and thin ideal internalisation mediated associations with individual platform use, whereas thin ideal internalisation and fit ideal internalisation mediated associations with following thin-idealised and fit-idealised social media content. No mediations were found for image-based platform use. These findings highlight the contributions of social media use and appearance-focussed social media content engagement to negative body image, emphasising the roles of thin and fit ideal internalisation and appearance comparison in shaping women's perceptions of their bodies and mental health.