Exploring Selective Exposure and Selective Avoidance Behavior in Social Media
: Sanna Malinen, Aki Koivula, Teo Keipi, Ilkka Koiranen
: Jeff Hemsley, Jenna Jacobson, Anatoliy Gruzd, & Philip Mai.
: International Conference on Social Media and Society
: New York
: 2018
: SMSociety '18 Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society
: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
: 350
: 354
: 5
: 978-1-4503-6334-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3217804.3217943(external)
: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3220000/3217943/p350-malinen.pdf?ip=130.232.200.197&id=3217943&acc=ACTIVE SERVICE&key=74A0E95D84AAE420.469889998DA62376.4D4702B0C3E38B35.4D4702B0C3E38B35&__acm__=1533127337_b239074c92ea8cae30c07f073e2df6f5(external)
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/31842901(external)
This study investigates social media users' preferences of encountering or actively avoiding undesired content and conflicts in social interaction with others. Based on a nationwide survey (N=3706) conducted in Finland and using principal component analysis, we identify three different types of social media use in relation to online information sharing and social interaction: conformist, provocative and protective. We then modelled those variations according to demographic variables and subjective life satisfaction. We found that women are more likely to use social media in a conformist and protective way whereas men have a higher probability to be provocative. We also found that younger and more educated people have a higher probability to use social media in a conformist and protective way. Finally, we suggest that subjective life satisfaction more powerfully predicts provocative use compared to age or education.