They looked at the amount of time men and women spent managing profiles, the number of photos they shared, the size of their online networks and how promiscuous they were in terms of ‘friending’ behaviour.

Dr Stefanone said: ‘Those whose self-esteem is based on public-based contingencies – such as others’ approval, physical appearance and outdoing others in competition – were more involved in online photo sharing.

‘And those whose self-worth is most contingent on appearance have a higher intensity of online photo sharing.’