These results suggest that approval via social media can help certain kinds of narcissists alleviate distress from social exclusion. In other words, these results suggest that, for people with a stronger sense of leadership ability and dominance, social media validation reduced distress caused by social exclusion.

The L/A (Leadership/Authority) facet is viewed as the more adaptive aspect of the NPI, which could also partially explain why narcissists are more active on social media and report more frequent “selfie” posting.

Additionally, these results support the idea that social media may provide certain (but not all) narcissists with a solution to their unique social dilemma: it allows them to attain social validation without resorting to real-world relationships that typically require reciprocity and effort. Social validation earned online might allow them to sidestep that dilemma and efficiently regulate distress.

Overall, according to the article, their findings support the idea that social media may be a "happy hunting ground" for narcissistic needs. Results indicated that validation through “likes” on a real “selfie” reduced neural indicators of emotional arousal after social exclusion for people high on the L/A subscale of narcissism.