The study found one in 10 people would bend the truth on social media to get more people to like their posts.

Even worse, in the quest for social validation, people are sharing an increasing amount of sensitive information on social media platforms, with men willing to take greater risks than women.

To attract attention and secure a significant number of likes, around one in 10 people (12%) pretend to be somewhere or doing something that might not be strictly true.

This rises to 14% of men, suggesting that many would rather get social media attention than share a realistic portrayal of their lives.

The survey covered 18 countries with a total of 16,750 people, aged above 16 years old and split equally between men and women. (The Star/File)

The research found that men are sensitive about how many likes they get on social media and, in their hunt for likes, men are more likely than women to reveal something embarrassing or confidential about their co-workers, friends or employers. 

Of the respondents, 14% of men said they would reveal something confidential about a co-worker, compared to 7% of women. A further 13% are willing to post something confidential about their employer, and 12% would reveal something embarrassing about a friend, compared with 6% of women.

In fact, men also get upset if they do not get the likes they hope for. Twenty four percent of men worry that if few people like their posts, their friends will think they are unpopular, compared to 17% of women. 

(Read also: Social media starting to influence public policy: Survey)

Twenty nine percent of men also admitted that they get upset if somebody who matters to them doesn’t like their posts. 

In the hunt for likes, men tend to go even further than women, posting things that present themselves and their friends in a compromising light which, according to University of Würzburg Media Psychologist Dr Astrid Carolus, “is in line with the assumption of men being rather less focused on social harmony and rather more willing to take risks.” 

Thus, 15% of men revealed they would post a photo of friends under the influence of alcohol compared to 8% of women, 12% of men would post a photo of themselves wearing something revealing, and 9% of men are even ready to post a photo of themselves naked compared to only 5% of women.

Evgeny Chereshnev, head of social media at Kaspersky Lab agrees with Carolus' assessment, warning that this risky behavior on social media can put people at risk. 

“In their search for social approval, people have stopped seeing the boundary between what is okay to share, and what is better kept private,” he says. 

“But it is important to protect ourselves, as well as the privacy of others. The research shows that 58% of people feel uncomfortable and upset when their friends post photos of them that they do not want to be made public.” 

“All in all, people need to become more aware and cyber-savvy about the information they share on social media,” he concluded.