Students' self-presentation on Facebook: An examination of personality and self-construal factors

    Authors

    B. Y. Chen;J. Marcus

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Comput. Hum. Behav.

    Keywords

    Collectivism; Individualism; Facebook; Social media; Self-disclosure; Self-presentation; 5-FACTOR MODEL; SOCIAL MEDIA; DISCLOSURE; COOPERATION; STRATEGIES; UNIVERSAL; IDENTITY; INTERNET; CULTURE; Psychology, Multidisciplinary; Psychology, Experimental

    Abstract

    The present research seeks to extend existing theory on self-disclosure to the online arena in higher educational institutions and contribute to the knowledge base and understanding about the use of a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook, by college students. We conducted a non-experimental study to investigate how university students (N = 463) use Facebook, and examined the roles that personality and culture play in disclosure of information in online SNS-based environments. Results showed that individuals do disclose differently online vs. in-person, and that both culture and personality matter. Specifically, it was found that collectivistic individuals low on extraversion and interacting in an online environment disclosed the least honest and the most audience-relevant information, as compared to others. Exploratory analyses also indicate that students use sites such as Facebook primarily to maintain existing personal relationships and selectively used privacy settings to control their self-presentation on SNSs. The findings of this study offer insight into understanding college students' self-disclosure on SNS, add to the literature on personality and self-disclosure, and shape future directions for research and practice on online self-presentation. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

    Journal Title

    Computers in Human Behavior

    Volume

    28

    Issue/Number

    6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    2091

    Last Page

    2099

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000309306000011

    ISSN

    0747-5632

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