Behind the screen: the relationship between privacy concerns and social media usage

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores to what extent Instagram users in Sweden experience privacy concerns, and how their privacy concerns affect the three emotional factors of social media usage, namely social media trust, social media fatigue and privacy protection behavior. Additionally, this paper also aims to investigate the relationship between these emotional factors and social media usage. The data collection was done via online survey of 315 active users of Instagram in Sweden. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modelling. This paper suggests that there is a direct and positive relationship between privacy concerns and social media usage, but there are some mediating pathways that either reduce (through social media trust) or enhance (through privacy protection behavior) social media usage. This study is limited to Instagram users and cannot be generalized for other social media platforms. Moreover, it is the first to examine the relationship between privacy concerns and social media usage in the Instagram context. Moreover, this empirical study provides a more holistic perspective by investigating the direct and indirect relationship between privacy concerns and social media usage.