Development and validation of the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS) for adolescents and youths

Over the past decade, the Uses and Gratifications theory has driven research on the motives behind social media use. The three most commonly explored motives have been: maintaining relationships, seeking information, and entertainment. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS), a measure to assess a wider range of motives for using Social Networking Sites than have previously been researched. A multi-method design with different samples of high-school and university students was used. First, to develop the pool of items, a literature review and a focus group study (n = 48, age range = 16–21) was conducted. Second, to reduce and refine the pool of items a pilot study (n = 168, age range = 14–24) was performed. Third, a validation study (n = 1102, age range = 13–25) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the SMU-SNS. Cross-validation using EFA and CFA resulted in a final version comprising 27 items distributed in nine factors (Dating, New Friendships, Academic Purposes, Social Connectedness, Following and Monitoring Others, Entertainment, seeking Social Recognition, Self-expression, and seeking Information). Internal consistency was excellent and evidence of measurement invariance across gender and age was largely achieved. The SMU-SNS scores significantly correlated with other relevant variables, including age, gender, certain personality traits, social support, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Overall, findings supported the SMU-SNS as a valid and reliable measure to assess youth’s motives for using Social Networking Sites. Psychometric and general implications are discussed.Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadMinisterio de Educación y Formación Profesiona

How motivations of SNSs use and offline social trust affect college students' self-disclosure on SNSs: An investigation in China

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have been proliferating and growing in popularity worldwide throughout the past few years, which have received significant interest from researchers. Previous literatures on Internet suggest that offline social trust influences online perceptions and behaviors, and there is linkage between trust and self-disclosure in face-to-face context. Adopting the Uses and Gratifications perspective as the theoretical foundation, this exploratory study aimed to address the roles that motivations of SNSs use and offline social trust play in predicting levels of self-disclosure on SNSs. Taking 640 snowballing sampling on Renren.com, the study found that there was an instrumental orientation of SNSs use among China's college students. Social interaction, self-image building and information seeking were three major motivations when college students use SNSs. As expected, the results also indicated that motivations of SNS use and offline social trust play a more important role in predicting self-disclosure on SNSs than demographics. This exploratory study gives an empirical insight in the influence of motivations of SNSs use and offline social trust on self-disclosure online. --Social Networking Sites,Motivations,Self-disclosure,Offline Social Trust

Engaging audiences through social media in colleges of agricultural and environmental sciences

Seventy percent of Americans use social media to connect with one another, share information and entertain themselves (Pew, 2019). Of those connecting socially, it's estimated 79% of 18-29-year olds are using Facebook and 38% are using Twitter. With college students being active on social media, college departments are able to leverage these many platforms to engage with students meaningfully. What is not clear, is what are the most successful tactics these departments are using. The objectives of this study were to 1) understand how departments within a college of agriculture and natural resources use Twitter and Facebook to engage audiences, 2) determine the success of tactics based on the highest levels of engagement, and 3) understand whom popular posts are targeting. For this study, researchers gathered 16 months of analytical information from 4 academic departments. The top 5 Twitter posts from each month per department were used to determine the average number of impressions, engagements, and the overall engagement. For Facebook, the lifetime of a post's total reach and lifetime of engaged users were averaged. Tactics noted included if the post had a photo, video, link, hashtag, or tagged another page. The audience of each post was analyzed to track popular themes. For Twitter, 307 tweets were analyzed across 4 departments. The departments had 608 total engaging elements, while on Facebook, 303 posts were analyzed for 493 total engaging elements across departments. Results show departments are engaging with three main audiences: students, faculty/staff, and alumni. Posts with engaging elements of images and videos had higher levels of user engagement in all departments. Popular themes across platforms include students on campus, student organizations, research, and events. This study aligned with most previous social media research in that posts with engaging elements have more reach. It is important that departments continue to use such tactics to reach audiences.No embargoAcademic Major: Agricultural Communicatio

Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook

Despite the rapid adoption of Facebook as a means of photo sharing, minimal research has been conducted to understand user gratification behind this activity. In order to address this gap, the current study examines users’ gratifications in sharing photos on Facebook by applying Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory. An online survey completed by 368 respondents identified six different gratifications, namely, affection, attention seeking, disclosure, habit, information sharing, and social influence, behind sharing digital photos on Facebook. Some of the study’s prominent findings were: age was in positive correlation with disclosure and social influence gratifications; gender differences were identified among habit and disclosure gratifications; number of photos shared was negatively correlated with habit and information sharing gratifications. The study’s implications can be utilized to refine existing and develop new features and services bridging digital photos and social networking services.Peer reviewe

The uses and gratifications of using Facebook music listening applications

Despite rapid adoption of social media as a means of music listening, little is known about users’ motivations. This study applies the uses and gratifications approach to users’ motivations for using music listening applications on Facebook. Participants completed an online survey, and 153 out of 576 respondents indicated that they used a Facebook music listening application. A principal axis factor analysis identified three different motivations for this usage, namely entertainment, communication, and habitual diversion gratifications. The entertainment and communication gratifications replicate those found in prior uses and gratifications research concerning other social networking features, illustrating the strong similarity between uses of music and social media. However, the habitual diversion gratification may serve to distinguish listening applications from other features. Identifying and explaining these factors is relevant to social media users, musicians and application designers, as they explain what motivates a means of music listening that is gaining prominence

Generation X and Facebook: An Examination of the Behavioral and Cognitive Engagements of Generation X on Facebook

Mobile internet technologies and social media have radically altered the media landscape, and traditional media outlets are experimenting with ways to more efficiently reach and connect with audiences. Social media offers media outlets an opportunity and space to strengthen relationships with audiences while delivering content across multiple modalities and platforms. This study, through an online survey, open-ended questions, and focus group sessions, offers an examination of the cognitive and behavioral engagements of Generation X on Facebook through a uses and gratifications perspective. Results indicate Generation X uses Facebook for information seeking and to strengthen and maintain current relationships but seems willing to interact with media outlets in the same space. This willingness to connect represents an opportunity for traditional media managers to reach this socially and economically vital age group and develop brand-loyal relationships

Gratifications associated with Snapchat usage among young people: Uses and gratifications analysis

Social media has become an everyday media diet for media users, especially young generations. Previous studies have focused on the use of Facebook and Twitter, but there is a dearth of research on newer social media such as Snapchat despite its fast growth and adoption in recent years. This study applies the uses and gratifications approach to Snapchat in order to identify what activities younger users are likely to do while using Snapchat, to investigate what kinds of gratifications are associated with Snapchat usage among young people, as well as to test whether there are gender differences in gratifications of Snapchat usage. An online survey completed by 1,749 respondents identified five different gratifications, namely, convenience, attention seeking, escape, information seeking and socialization. Some of the study’s prominent findings are: young people usually use Snapchat to chat with friends, share photos and videos, make a story and apply a filter; there are gender differences in the gratifications of escape, socialization and convenience. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research

Facebook satisfaction, life satisfaction: Malaysian undergraduate experience

The central aim of this study was to investigate an approach whereby students’ online social networking produces positive psychological outcomes. Basically, Facebook is a social site that is open to all and closely integrated into the daily experience of most undergraduate students in Malaysia. This study conducted to analyse the association between the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent on Facebook with life satisfaction. The purpose of the current study was to investigate what gratifications Malaysian students obtain from Facebook uses. The present study also probed to find out whether gratification obtaining from Facebook uses predicts life satisfaction. In doing so, the theory of the uses and gratification and the theory of the life satisfaction were adopted as theoretical frame work. Our findings of 798 participants, conducting a factor analysis, explored respectively the following gratifications behind Facebook uses: entertainment, communication, social investigation social attention, shared identity and information seeking. Furthermore, using the regression equation, this study failed to find direct association between number of Facebook friends and amount of time using with life satisfaction. The number of Facebook friends while controlling by Facebook motivations could predict life satisfaction. So, it is propounded the view that general uses of social networking sites don’t meet the psychological effects, but the type of certain interaction is the matter. Finally, the findings of this study detected shared identity and social attention as two obtaining gratification that predicted students’ life satisfaction

Effects of narcissism, leisure boredom, and gratifications sought on user-generated content among net-generation users

This research identifies the gratifications sought by the net-generation when producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their frieds and relatives, be involved in others' lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications were all found to be significantly associated with the users' various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, blogs, online forums, etc.) What's more, narcissism was predictive of content generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpage, while leisure boredom was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal website, and participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed the Net-geners who encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online. Implications of findings are discussed. --Narcissism,leisure boredom,user-generated content,uses and gratifications