The specific and concrete motives to use social media are likely to grow as social media multiplies. Study 1 was conducted to identify the hierarchical structure of motives of using social media that explain a wide range of previously identified motives from Uses and Gratification theory (Katz & Blumler, 1974). College students (N = 948) completed previously established measures of social media motives and a range of social media behaviors. Findings revealed two higher-order factors: (1) “Instrumental” motivation captures motives to achieve a specific aim by using social media (e.g., for information, self-expression, social interaction) and these motives are positively correlated with private self-conscious on social media, and (2) “Experiential” motivation captures motives to escape from reality by using social media (e.g., for entertainment, passing time, convenience) and these motives are positively correlated with social media addiction. Study 2 aimed to determine if the higher order structure, “Instrumental” and “Experiential”, emerge across a wider range of motivations to use social media. College students (N = 216) completed a survey on the 7 social media motivations from study 1 and 16 more social media motivations found in the two pilot studies. Findings from the confirmatory factor analysis revealed the 23-factor model was the better predictor to use social media than the higher order factors. The predictive validity of the higher order factors suggests “Instrumental” motivation is the better predictor of personality and “Experiential” motivation is positively correlated with social media addiction.

People express themselves differently on social media than in physical life. Some seem as if they were a different person on social media than offline. However, little research has tested whether the perceived similarity between offline and social media contexts is linked to psychological well-being. Whether people perceive themselves as similar between offline and social media contexts may contribute to understanding the links between social media use and psychological well-being. This dissertation addresses whether people perceive themselves as the same on social media as offline (Studies 1 and 2), whether this perceived similarity is linked to psychological well-being (Study 2), and the potential role of generation (Study 2)—focusing on comparisons between digital “natives” (Generation Z) and “immigrants” (Baby Boomers) who show different patterns of social media use. Across two studies of college student and online samples, participants completed measures of the Big Five personality traits specified for offline and social media contexts. Study 2 participants further completed measures of psychological well-being (e.g., depression, life satisfaction, self-esteem) and submitted records of their logged mobile phone use. Findings showed that across generations, people tend to view themselves as similar between offline and social media contexts but not the same in terms of their personality traits. Boomers actually perceived themselves as more similar between offline and social media than Gen Z, even when controlling for logged mobile phone use. Perceived similarity between offline and social media selves was not linked positively to psychological well-being (and there were small generation differences whereby the link appeared to be more negative in Gen Z relative to Boomers). The expectation that perceived similarity between offline and social media should be linked to positive outcomes in terms of psychological well-being may not apply to the context of social media, particularly for Gen Z. Studying psychology in offline and social media contexts separately and jointly will be important to understand the social well-being of the emerging digital world.

In the past year, considerable misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic has circulated on social media platforms. Faced with this pervasive issue, it is important to identify the extent to which people are able to spot misinformation on social media and ways to improve people’s accuracy in spotting misinformation. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate people’s accuracy in spotting misinformation, the effectiveness of a game-based intervention, and the role of political affiliation in spotting misinformation. In this study, 235 participants played a misinformation game in which they evaluated COVID-19-related tweets and indicated whether or not they thought each of the tweets contained misinformation. Misinformation accuracy was measured using game scores, which were based on the correct identification of misinformation. Findings revealed that participants’ beliefs about how accurate they are at spotting misinformation about COVID-19 did not predict their actual accuracy. Participants’ accuracy improved after playing the game, but democrats were more likely to improve than republicans.