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Self-disclosure on Instagram and Twitter: The role of media richness and personality
Author(s)
Date Issued
2018
Citation
Lee, K. L., & Borah, P. (29 Mar 2018). Self-disclosure on Instagram and Twitter: The role of media richness and personality. Washington State University 2018 Academic Showcase & GPSA Research Exposition, WSU Pullman campus, USA.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
With online technologies, people can disclose information which facilitates offline relationships. However, they may also overdo the disclosure and harm interpersonal bonding. Since selfdisclosure can both benefit and harm the media users, investigation into its mechanism is warranted. This research looks into self-disclosure on Instagram and Twitter, the former is primarily visually-oriented while the later is textually-oriented. According to Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986), the visual emphasis would render Instagram "rich" because visual contents enable closer approximation to real-life communication. As richer platforms inherit greater information-carrying capacities, it is hypothesized that wider and deeper self-disclosures would be expected on Instagram than on Twitter. Other than situational factors in media structure, previous studies found that dispositional personalities of users also influence one's behaviors in self-disclosure (Chen & Marcus, 2012). As such, the current study also investigates research questions about the roles of personalities in self-disclosure, including depth, breadth, and tendency with different technological modalities. Young adults who constitute the largest cohorts for Instagram and Twitter users are targeted. Questionnaire with perceived media richness, Big Five personality test, and self-disclosure is being constructed and revised. Data
would be collected by February, and results would be available by March. Chen, B., & Marcus, J. (2012). Students' self-presentation on Facebook: An examination of personality and selfconstrual factors. Computers in Human Behavior journal, 28, 2091-2099. Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements: Media richness and structural design. Management Science, 32, 554-571.
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