Motivations For Social Media Research Articles

Adolescents and Social Media: Longitudinal Links Between Motivations for Using Social Media and Subsequent Internalizing Symptoms.

Knowledge is lacking on whether adolescents' motivations for social media use predict internalizing symptoms, and few studies have considered the moderating role of extraversion. In 2017 (T1) and 2018 (T2), 197 adolescents (49.70% girls, Mage = 13.15, SD = 0.36) from a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Adolescents reported on their social media use motivations and extraversion (at T1) and depressive and anxiety symptoms (T1 and T2). Latent class analysis revealed four motivation profiles at T1: (1) entertainment and fun (30.97%); (2) avoidance and escapism (14.21%); (3) meeting new people, feel involved (16.75%); (4) boredom (38.07%). Social motivations (profile 3) predicted elevated internalizing symptoms at T2. Avoidance and boredom motivations (profile 2 and 4) predicted internalizing symptoms for adolescents with low extraversion. Social media use motivations and extraversion distinguish adolescents who benefit from social media from those who experience difficulties.

Personal values clusters and their associations to social media behaviors and psychological well-being.

The current study contributes to the literature by assessing the associations between personal values, explored with Schwartz`s Portrait Values Questionnaire, social media behaviors, assessed with Bergen Scale of Social Media Addiction and Social Media Motivations to Use Scale and psychological well-being assessed with Patient Health Questionnaire-4, in a sample of first-year medical students. It was examined medical students' personal values profiles and the perceived influence of social media on self-aspects. All participants (N = 151) were Romanian and English module students, young (average age = 19.2, SD = 1.5), 68,9% females and 31,1% males. Pearson coefficient correlation analyses were performed to verify the associations between the main four clusters of personal values (Self Transcendence, Self Enhancement, Openness to change and Conservationism) with social media behaviors and psychological wellbeing. The most frequent cluster of values was Self-Transcendence (M = 5.21) while the least was Self-Enhancement (M = 4.05). There was no significant correlation between social media addiction, psychological wellbeing and a specific cluster of values while the perception of self-aspects influenced by social media included involvement in community problems, creativity for Openness to change group (R = .24;.22, p < .05), tolerance towards sexual minorities and self-evaluation in Self Transcendence group (R = .24;.21;.42, p < .05) while Conservationism and Self Enhancement groups didn`t report any change. The findings highlight the need for awareness and education of medical students and general population in the field of Digital Ethics including social media complex impact on personal values as AI-algorithms may imply a potential destabilization and perpetual shaping of one`s behavior with still unpredictable individual and societal effects.

The Role of Social Media Motivation in Enhancing Social Responsibility

This study explores the impact of social media platforms on enhancing social responsibility, employing a rigorous research framework based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory. We developed and tested a model to investigate how motivations for using social media influence social responsibility. A quantitative methodology was utilized, analyzing data from a sample of 520 participants using SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal various social media motivations—specifically information seeking, information sharing, self-status, social interaction, entertainment, being fashionable, and relaxation—significantly and positively impact social responsibility. The results underscore the constructive role of social media motivations in fostering social responsibility. They also suggest that further investigations into additional dimensions could provide deeper insights into how digital media might be leveraged to benefit society more broadly and enhance the concept of social responsibility. This study contributes to the expanding discourse on digital media’s potential to effect positive societal change.

In Their Own Words: How Adolescents Use Social Media and How It Affects Them

The aim of this qualitative study was to uncover homogeneity (commonalities between adolescents), heterogeneity (differences between adolescents), and duality (differences within adolescents) in the relationship between adolescents’ social media use and well-being. To do so, 8 focus groups with 55 adolescents aged 14–17 were conducted. Anchored in the differential susceptibility to media effects model, we examined adolescents’ (1) individual motives and (2) moods leading to social media use, (3) the nature of this use, (4) their affective responses, and (5) perceived longer-term effects. Through deductive thematic analysis, we noted large homogeneity in motives for social media use but heterogeneity in moods leading to social media use. In addition, our findings revealed heterogeneity and duality in the affective responses and the perceived long-term effects of social media use. This duality, where the same individual is affected in both positive and negative ways by social media use, appeared in various forms: concurrently, when adolescents experience conflicting feelings simultaneously, such as feeling both envy and inspiration; alternately, when adolescents shift between experiences, such as feelings of connection and isolation; and sequentially, for example, where initial enjoyment gradually turns into boredom. Furthermore, duality appeared across different cognitive and affective aspects of well-being. Directions for future research are provided on how to examine the role and meaning of various forms of homogeneity, heterogeneity, and duality in the relationship between adolescents’ social media use and well-being.

MZ세대의 소셜미디어 이용 동기가 헤어관리에 미치는 영향

This study attempted to investigate the influence of motives to use social media on hair care against Gen MZ who have recently emerged as a powerful force in the national economy. For this, an online questionnaire survey was performed against adult men and women in their 18-41 living in Gwangju Metropolitan City from September 20 to October 20, 2022, using NAVER Forms. Among a total of 320 questionnaires distributed, 308 copies excluding 12 poorly answered ones were used for final analysis. The collected data were analyzed by frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha and linear regression analysis, using SPSS 21.0, and the results found the followings: First, the motives to use social media were divided into 4 categories: social motivation, hedonic motivation, self-expression motivation, information-functional motivation. In addition, hair care was classified into hair-interpersonal orientation, pursuit of hair personality, hair consistency and hair conformity. Second, the motives for social media use had a statistically significant influence on hair care (p&lt;.05, p&lt;.01, p&lt;.001). The above results confirm that motives for using social media affect hair care as MZers’ interest in the utilization of social media and hair care is rapidly growing. These days, they tend to express and appeal themselves more actively, using social media. This study also found that such tendency is reflected on their hair care. The study results show that there should be more active marketing and advertisement strategies against Generation MZ who have great purchasing power in beauty industry.

Exploring the Multifaceted Influences of Social Media Motivation on Online Relationship Commitment among Young Adults in Jordan: An Empirical Study

In the context of a rapidly evolving global communication landscape, this study delves into the influence of social media motivation on online relationship commitment among young adults in Jordan. Utilizing a quantitative methodology, the research operationalizes and tests a conceptual model to assess the correlation between various motivational factors and online relationship commitment. Results reveal that social media exerts a significant influence on online relationship commitment, with information-seeking and trend-following emerging as the most salient contributing factors. Additionally, the study identifies that providing self-status information, social interaction, and entertainment are key motivators that positively impact and strengthen online relationship commitment.

Scrolling for fun or to cope? Associations between social media motives and social media disorder symptoms in adolescents and young adults.

Although not yet recognized as an official disorder, Social Media Disorder (SMD) has recently received considerable interest in the research. However, relatively little is known about underlying motives for social media use and to what extent motives show differential associations with SMD symptom severity and SMD diagnosis. The overall aim of the present study was therefore to examine motives for social media use in relation to (1) which motives are most common, (2) associations between motives and both SMD symptom severity and SMD diagnosis, and (3) the effects of sex and age. Data were collected through a digital survey (n = 1820) and included both high school students (n = 924) and university students (n = 896). Six different motives were assessed, and SMD was measured in relation to both Heavy Involvement and Negative Consequences of social media use. The results showed that the most common social media use motives were Entertainment, Social Maintenance, and Information and Skills. However, it was the three least common motives - Social Compensation, Self-status, and Escape - that were most strongly associated with SMD symptom severity and SMD diagnosis. These three motives explained as much as 42% of the variance in negative consequences of social media use. Only a few small effects of sex or age were found. Some social media use motives are much more strongly associated with SMD than others are. This could indicate that prevention and intervention programs should target these motives specifically, rather than focusing on social media use in general.

EFFECTS OF TRAVEL AGENCY TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP ON TOUR GUIDES’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING BEHAVIORS

The current study aims to determine the effects of technology leadership by tourist agencies on the motivation of tour guides to engage in professional sharing behaviors on social media. The data for this study were collected through surveys from registered tour guides affiliated with a travel agency in Turkey. In total, 373 participants were reached. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating role of motives for social media use in the effect of travel agencies’ technology leadership on tour guides’ Instagram use behaviors. The findings showed that the technology leadership of travel agencies affects the Instagram use behaviors of tour guides and that the motivation for social media use has a mediating role in this relationship. According to our research findings, as guides become more proficient in using Instagram, their reputation among individuals improves. Consequently, the number of professional posts and the visibility of guides on social media will increase, making them more appealing to a larger number of tourists. This study differentiates itself from others related to technology leadership in the literature, as it is the first to mention both technology leadership and tour guides’ social media usage together.

Branded content and motivations for social media use as drivers of brand outcomes on social media: a cross-cultural study

Social media are increasingly popular for delivering branded content to consumers worldwide. A central task for researchers is to understand what consumer brand-related motivations and brand appeals drive consumer engagement and benefit brand outcomes across different cultures. Based on the Uses and Gratifications theory, this study explores how individuals’ motivations for social media use and branded content reflecting these motivations affect three focal consumer brand responses (viral behavioral intentions, click intention, and purchase intention) across different cultural contexts, namely Western European (i.e. Austria, Belgium, Sweden) and Latin (i.e. Brazil, Chile, Portugal) cultures. Our results exhibit significant positive effects of motivations (Remuneration) and branded appeals (entertainment appeal) on consumer responses that prevail in both Western European and Latin cultures. Managers implementing cross-cultural social media marketing can use the insights of this paper as a guide to target audiences with brand appeals, enhancing the effectiveness of their brand communication activities on social media.

Navigating ambivalence: A qualitative study of young fitness self-trackers' engagement with body ideals through social media.

This article explores how social media are involved in imagining and sensing body ideals among young fitness self-trackers in Denmark (age 15-24). The analysis is based on 20 interviews and contributes to existing research on social media, body image and self-tracking by showing that social media are central for the fitness practices of the participants, but also that gaining access to practical knowledge, motivational material and visual goals seem to be more important motivations for social media use than personal sharing and interaction. Social media are furthermore understood by the participants as unavoidable, but ambivalent terrains in the sense that cognitive and affective benefits, like knowledge or motivation, can only be accessed and felt by handling the risk of also encountering misinformation and demotivating images of idealised or deceptive bodies. The informants legitimise their engagement with social media by positioning themselves as mature media users able to navigate social media through practices of content dis/engagement. The ambivalence of social media is in other words experienced as both 'elemental' and 'curatable' by the informants; an experience that stresses the need to question the traditional conceptualisation of ambivalence as an inhibition of personal agency and will formation.

Exploring the Interplay of Cultural Restraint: The Relationship between Social Media Motivation and Subjective Happiness

This study aims to investigate the intricate relationship between social media motivations and subjective happiness, utilizing a novel framework based on the uses and gratifications theory and cultural restraint. Through a quantitative analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) of a sample of 391 young Jordanian adults, the findings reveal a surprising positive correlation between social media motivations and subjective happiness, with cultural restraint emerging as a critical moderator in this dynamic. Cultural restraint negatively moderates the relationship between social media motivations and subjective happiness. By shedding light on the powerful role of cultural factors in shaping our relationship with social media, this study offers essential insights for practitioners seeking to enhance user experiences and maximize well-being. This research expands upon existing knowledge, providing a fresh perspective on the interplay between motivation and happiness, and highlighting the potential for understanding cultural restraint to unlock greater happiness and fulfillment in the digital age. The findings indicate that the positive impact of social media motivations on subjective happiness may be influenced by the level of cultural restraint within a society.

Motivations for Instagram use: Personal validation and enhancing close relationships

Digital communication and social networking continue to evolve as user demand increases. While much of the research examining motivations for social media focuses on Facebook, different social networking platforms offer a variety of features and uses increasing demand for continued research on motivations for use of social media platforms. Instagram includes a uniquely visual presentation style when compared to Facebook and emphasizes public connections rather than known social connections, so motivations for use of this platform may differ. The current research examined motivations for Instagram use, in general, focusing on the public affirmation aspects of this platform, as well as examined how this platform may affect motivations to connect with those in close relationships. Instagram use produced greater feelings of sadness when these public affirmation needs were not met. In addition, when close relationship needs were not met, feelings of sadness also increased. This research contributes to the existing literature on social networking site use and highlights unique motivations for use of the Instagram platform.

Influence of Social Media Motives on Personal Identity-A Qualitative Review

Influence of Social Media Motives on Personal Identity-A Qualitative Review

Social Media Use Motives: An Influential Factor in User Behavior and User Health Profiles

Social media use is an increasingly popular behavior and has been differentially correlated with both positive and negative user characteristics and health indicators. However, the current literature has yet to fully explore the role of social media user motivations in the relationship between social media use, user characteristics, and user health. Aiming to address this gap, the current cross-sectional study examined data gathered from 1,547 online undergraduate students who completed an online survey regarding their social media motives (entertainment, information seeking, personal utility, convenience), user demographics, behavior, and health indicators (behavioral, mental, physical, social). Results demonstrated unique differences in social media motives according to social media platform, as well as user demographic characteristics, electronic media use, and health indicators, especially for the entertainment motive. Although the entertainment motive was not significantly different between women and men, t(1545) = 1.78, p = .07, d = 0.10, it was notably different across class level, F(4, 1542) = 8.03, p &lt; .001, η2 = .03, and relationship status, F(4, 1542) = 15.63, p &lt; .001, η2 = .04, and it was the motive most strongly related to user behavior and health indicators. Additionally, entertainment motivation was moderately correlated with problematic smartphone use (r = .45, p &lt; .001) and had a stronger correlation with study variables than any other social media motive. These findings suggest that motives, especially entertainment, are important for understanding social media use in user interface, behavior, and health.

Associations between social media use and loneliness in a cross-national population: do motives for social media use matter?

ABSTRACT Background: We aimed to examine the association between social media use and loneliness two years after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Methods: Participants were 1649 adults who completed a cross-sectional online survey disseminated openly in Norway, United Kingdom, USA, and Australia between November 2021 and January 2022. Linear regressions examined time spent on social media and participants’ characteristics on loneliness, and interactions by motives for social media use. Results: Participants who worried more about their health and were younger, not employed, and without a spouse or partner reported higher levels of loneliness compared to their counterparts. More time spent on social media was associated with more loneliness (β = 0.12, p < 0.001). Three profile groups emerged for social media use motives: 1) social media use motive ratings on avoiding difficult feelings higher or the same as for maintaining contact; 2) slightly higher ratings for maintaining contact; and 3) substantially higher ratings for maintaining contact. Time spent on social media was significant only in motive profile groups 2 and 3 (β = 0.12 and β = 0.14, both p < 0.01). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that people who use social media for the motive of maintaining their relationships feel lonelier than those who spend the same amount of time on social media for other reasons. While social media may facilitate social contact to a degree, they may not facilitate the type of contact sought by those who use social media primarily for this reason.

Psychological well-being among Gen Z social media users: Exploring the role of self-esteem and social media dependency as mediators and social media usage motives as moderator

Social media has become an inseparable part of Gen Z’s life. However, a number of previous research documented contradictive findings regarding social media use and its effect on psychological wellbeing among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the role of self-esteem, social media dependency, and motives of social media use in the psychological well-being of Gen Z adolescents. A total of 647 students (aged 12 to 21 years, comprising 282 males and 365 females) participated and completed several self-reported instruments, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Online Social Network Dependency Scale (OSNDS), the Social Media Usage Motives Scale (SMUMS), and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-18). Results from Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) showed that self-esteem was a positive predictor, while social media dependency was a negative predictor of psychological well-being in Gen Z adolescents. Social media dependency was also found significantly mediate the link between self-esteem and psychological well-being. In addition, motives for social media use were a significant moderator of the relationship between social media dependency and psychological well-being, in which a maintaining existing relationship motive intensified this association, while a meet new people and socializing motive weakened it. These findings implied the importance of an intervention targeting selfesteem in understanding the motive behind adolescents’ use of social media so that their consumption of social media could be appropriate and offer benefits for their psychological well-being. Keywords : gen Z; psychological well-being; self-esteem; social media dependency; social media use motive.

Motivations for Social Media Use as Mediators in the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Social Media Addiction

In the midst of an ever-changing world that we inhabit today, many facets that were once viewed as ‘intruding’, ‘alien’, or utter anomalies, have turned into integral linchpins of our day-to-day lives, and without them, the modern dynamics of human essence are portrayed as incompetent. Amongst those pivotal factors are the emergence of the Internet, social media platforms, and the inevitable ascendancy of the virtual world. That is, the perception of what is deemed incongruent is primarily dependent on how well one seems to utilize social media, as it is the cutting edge of the contemporary means of social evolution. Indeed, the conception of social engagement has become completely novel nowadays from what it was in the past, and despite the fact that communication has been altered to fit ‘electronic screens’, it has facilitated the mechanisms of communication in a way that is simply undeniable. Howbeit, on the other hand, this cacophony of interactive tools has created one of the virtual world’s most obstreperous dogmas, that is, social media addiction. The rapid changes in external methods of communication have contributed to the stripping of our innate roots of ordeal human communication and thus completely remolded our behaviors in a whirlwind of what seemed like a revolutionary momentum. That is, socialization and the formation of both individual identity and communal solidarity are essentially centered around our online practices, where the dependencies of such shift in communication transmit further into the entirety of our beings and seep into our subconsciousness. Thus, among the notions of social media’s intermingling with human intellect, is the deployment of emotional intelligence (EI) in dealing with social media addiction. Formulating the crux to this research, this paper seeks to shed light on the role of EI in either dampening or arousing the desires of obsessive social media use, especially since there is a major dearth of studies that observe the crucialness of EI management in controlling addictive behaviors on various social media platforms. Through the use of a quantitative research approach, this study examined the role of several motivations for social media use, namely, entertainment, communication, self-expression, and relationship maintenance, in moderating the relationship between EI and social media addiction. This was achieved by distributing questionnaires to 400 participants aged between 18 and 25 in the Kampala Region of Uganda, using a random sampling method. Findings elucidated that EI is negatively correlated to social media addiction, implying that a higher level of EI translates to a lower desire for social media addiction and vice versa, while all four motivations for social media use were significantly correlated with social media addiction. Furthermore, results conveyed that entertainment and relationship management are amongst the top stimulating mediators for the relationship between EI and social media addiction. However, this also implies that if individuals have low levels of EI, it does not necessarily guarantee that they will most likely adopt pathological social media behaviors, simply because the motivations for using such online platforms critically vary from one individual to the other, while also simultaneously keeping an analytical eye on the role of freewill in promulgating this dilemma in possible future research.

Exploring the Associations between Social Media Addiction and Depression: Attentional Bias as a Mediator and Socio-Emotional Competence as a Moderator.

Social media is used daily by a significant number of young people and can have an important influence on the well-being of its users. The aim of this study was to determine the motives for social media use among Chinese youth and whether social media addiction associates with depression. Another objective was to analyze possible mediating and moderating effects in explaining the association between social media addiction and depression. Participants were 1652 secondary school students (51.5% boys and 48.5% girls) aged 12–18 years in China. The results showed that attention bias mediated the association between social media addiction and depression when adolescents’ socio-emotional competencies were low, but not as strong when their socio-emotional competencies were high. The findings not only provided theoretical support for preventing the negative effects of mobile social media addiction, but could also directly contribute to improving adolescents’ quality of life.

Coping strategies initiated by COVID-19-related stress, individuals' motives for social media use, and perceived stress reduction

PurposeThis study examined whether individuals' coping strategies and their motivations for social media use act as mediators between actual COVID-19-related stress and the perception that social media use can reduce stress.Design/methodology/approachThis study empirically develops and tests a research model with data (N = 503) collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A path analysis was used to test the research model.FindingsThe path analysis indicated that active coping initiated by individuals under COVID-19-related stress was more likely to be associated with information and social interaction needs, leading the individuals to perceive the use of social media as the cause for stress reduction. The expressive support coping strategy motivated the individuals under stress to seek social interaction, leading individuals to perceive that activities on social media reduced their stress during the pandemic. Emotional venting and avoidance coping strategies significantly impacted escape, social interaction, and entertainment seeking by allowing individuals to get absorbed in social media activities and forget unpleasant thoughts associated with the pandemic.Originality/valueNo previous study has explored the relationship between decisions around the type of coping strategy used and motivations for media usage, which leads to stress reduction. Understanding how stress-induced coping strategies influence social media users' specific motivations and reduce users' stress levels would help communicators understand how users' can encourage individuals to cope with stress by presenting individuals with more effective social media, resulting in stress reduction and improved well-being.

The dark triad, empathy, and motives to use social media

Compared to individual differences in antisocial and prosocial online behavior, less is known about the motivation to behave antisocially or prosocially online. In this exploratory study (N = 239), we examined the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and empathy (cognitive and affective) as predictors of antisocial and prosocial social media motivations. Women (but not men) with high psychopathy were more motivated to use social media antisocially. Men and women with high narcissism were more motivated to use social media antisocially and prosocially. Lastly, for women (but not men), higher affective empathy and lower cognitive empathy predicted higher prosocial motivations. These results provide valuable information about the nexus between personality and online behavior and are consistent with a Uses and Gratifications approach. Findings offer an important initial contribution to understanding individual differences in the motivation to behave antisocially and prosocially online.