Personality Traits, Motivations, and Emotional Consequences of Social Media Usage (original) (raw)

Abstract

This study explores social media users' personality traits and motivations for the usage of two different social media platforms, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as how the varied uses impact users' negative emotional experiences. The findings suggest that the intensity of social media usage is positively related to negative emotions. For Facebook users, socialization, entertainment, and information seeking motivations significantly influence their platform use intensity and, subsequently, lead to negative emotions. Self-status seeking also has a direct effect on Facebook users' negative emotions. For Pinterest users, socialization is not a significant motivation for usage of that platform. However, entertainment, information seeking, and self-status seeking significantly predict their platform use intensity, which subsequently lead to negative emotions. Similarly, all four motivations for Facebook and Pinterest uses are influenced by users' personality traits: extraversion and openness. Yet, openness has a greater impact on using Pinterest than Facebook in terms of fulfilling socialization needs. Neuroticism has a positive impact on socialization and information seeking motives for use of both platforms, while conscientiousness and agreeableness have a negative influence on fulfilling self-status seeking needs. In addition, agreeable social networking site users are less likely to use Facebook than Pinterest for fulfilling self-status related gratifications, while they are likely to use Pinterest instead of Facebook for entertainment and information needs. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Key takeaways

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  1. High intensity of social media usage correlates with increased negative emotions, particularly on Facebook.
  2. Personality traits, especially extraversion and openness, significantly influence motivations for using Facebook and Pinterest.
  3. Facebook users utilize the platform primarily for socialization, entertainment, and information seeking, impacting emotional experiences.
  4. Pinterest users experience lower negative emotions, as socialization is not a significant motivation for their platform use.
  5. The study reveals varied motivations for SNS usage, highlighting implications for understanding emotional consequences in social media engagement.

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