REVEALED: Why women FIB on Facebook

Women often lie and exaggerate on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a new survey has found.

Researchers in a survey of 2000 women found that at least one in four exaggerated or distorted what they are doing on social media once a month.

Women mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and embellished about an exotic holiday or their job.

The most common reasons for women to lie included worrying their lives would seem 'boring', jealousy at seeing other people's more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances, The Telegraph reported.

According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women admitted to "dishonesty" on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage.

Nearly one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week, according to the survey commissioned by Pencourage, a new social media website.

Nearly 30 per cent of women lied about "doing something when I am home alone", almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs.

One in five women even lied about their "relationship status".

"We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling," said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.

Omitting the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends' online leads to less opportunity to feel empathised with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others," Sinclair said.