While networks such as Facebook and Twitter are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family, the constant need to engage with people on social networks is having a detrimental effect on our stress levels. The Cenovis Chill Pill Survey, conducted by Galaxy Research, questioned 420 Aussies over the age of 18 found that 63% admitted that social media was having an effect on how stressed out the feel.

Out of this 63%, 37% said they felt under pressure to be in constant touch with Facebook to avoid being “out of the loop”, while 35% revealed they feel a demand on them to reply to any message they receive via the social network as quickly as possible.  

With the added pressure of people rating your status updates as other users have the chance to “like” what you’ve written or comment, it seems Facebook users are feeling the strain of being judged on their off the cuff remarks. 69% of women admitted to feeling under pressure to impress others with their status updates, while only 39% of men said they were worried about what others thought of their updates.

Facebook becomes the world's most popular social networking site

Facebook has become the world’s most popular social networking site after it was announced that it currently holds 300 members worldwide.

The news was broken by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a news blog post. In the announcement he wrote: “Facebook now serves 300 million people across the world. It’s a large number, but the way we think about this is that we’re just getting started on our goal of connecting everyone.” The announcement suggests that Facebook bosses are unlikely to rest on their laurels having reached the milestone, but instead, intend to use it as launching pad to further the company’s development.

The last two months have seen Facebook member numbers multiply dramatically with the site gaining 50 million extra users between July and September. One area where Facebook is gaining ground is in attracting members from countries where online resources are internet usage is not as prevalent as it is in the West.

Since the launch of Facebook Lite, which is designed for users with slow internet connections, the organization has been making headway in attracting members from countries such as South America and India, whilst still retaining a healthy sign-up rate from tech-savvy markets such as the UK and the States.

Zuckerberg plans to invest in developing software systems which will further boost Facebook’s prowess and enable the company to deliver a high speed service with innovative features.