Motivational underpinnings of social media use.

Abstract

The effect of social media use on psychological well-being has been a pressing topic of discussion for the past several years. Previous research has found, paradoxically, that social media use may be associated with both increased and decreased well-being. Some studies have suggested that one's motivation for using social media may be implicated in well-being outcomes as a result of social media use. This study sought to further explore the role of motivation for social media use, and how it may differ across different social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and total time spent on social media). Specifically, the present study tested whether time spent on social media and motives for social media use mediate the relationship between feelings of social connection and disconnection. Results indicated that time spent on social media and motives for use do not mediate the relationship between connection and disconnection for any of the platforms or for total use. However, tests of direct effects revealed that disconnection predicts more total time spent on social media across platforms, but not time spent on any specific platform. Similarly, using social media for friendship and information predicted higher levels of social connection when total social media use was included as a mediator. In contrast, using social media for connection (i.e., forming new relationships) did not predict higher feelings of social connection for any of the platforms or for total use. In general, there were few significant cross-platform differences, as most direct effects were significant only for total time spent on social media. Although use for connection did not significantly predict higher feelings of social connection, it did predict time spent on Snapchat, Facebook, and total time spent on social media, though this was not the case for use for friendship and only true for total time spent in the case of use for information. These results suggest that motives for social media use can affect feelings of social connectedness, but the underlying mechanism of this effect is still unclear. Public Policy Relevance StatementMotivations for social media use have differential effects on feelings of social connection. While using social media for the purposes of maintaining existing friendships or information are positively related to social connection, using social media for the purposes of creating new relationships was not. These results may inform potential interventions for ensuring positive psychological outcomes as a result of social media use.