Reliable and consistent social support are associated with the mental health and well-being of persons with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder (BD). Yet the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing measures (e.g., shelter-in-place) reduced access to regular social contacts, while social media use increased concomitantly.

For this study, we had two goals. First we report descriptive information regarding social media use (SMU) by persons with BD during COVID-19 (all platforms). Specific to Facebook, we next developed and tested a hypothesized model in order to identify direct and indirect associations between BD symptoms, social support, loneliness, life satisfaction, and social media use. Responses were collected during the global spread of the Delta variant and prior/concurrent with the Omicron variant, 20 months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Over eight weeks, participants were recruited using social media advertising micro- targeted to adults with BD. On average, participants were 53.96 years of age (SD = 13.22, range 20-77 years), they had completed 15.40 years of education (SD = 4.28) and were diagnosed with BD 19.60 years ago (SD = 10.31). Path analysis was performed to develop and test our hypothesized model.

Almost all participants (93%) reported having both Facebook and LinkedIn accounts; 91.1% reported regular use of either or both. During the pandemic, most (60.8%) reported accessing social media several times a day; 36% reported using social media more often since the emergence of COVID-19. Specific to Facebook, the model we hypothesized differed somewhat from what emerged. The resulting model suggests that symptoms of depression predict loneliness and inversely, social support and life satisfaction. Social support predicts social Facebook use whereas passive Facebook use predicts life satisfaction. Symptoms of depression emerged as indirect predictors of SMU via social support.

Our findings suggest that the operational definition of passive-active SMU requires further analysis and refinement. In contrast to theory, passive Facebook use appears positively correlated with well-being among certain populations. Longitudinal data collection over multiple points is required to identify associations between BD symptoms, social media use and well-being over time.