London, April 9 (IANS): Use of social media can influence attitudes and behaviours to a greater extent, even empower women too. According to a promising research, Iranian women who use Facebook may be willing to display pictures of themselves without a veil.

"Among women in Iran, the duration and amount of daily Facebook activity is associated with their desire to wear a traditional head-covering and their willingness to put photos without a veil,” explained Sean Young from David Geffen school of medicine, University of California.

Young, along with Abbas Shakiba from University of Shahid Chamran in Iran and Mohammad Sadegh Montazeri from University of Semnan, Iran, did a survey of Iranian women and the use of social media.

They found significant relationships between several factors and how likely the Iranian women surveyed were to cover themselves with a veil and whether they would post unveiled photos on Facebook.

“This study is an important foray into the impact technology and social media is having on cultural and religious norms,” explained Brenda K. Wiederhold, editor-in-chief of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking that published the study.

The article was titled "The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behaviour in Iran”.