3. Methodology
4.4. Mediation Analysis
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significant, R2 = .23, F(1, 294) = 87.68, p < .001. The model explained 23% of the variance. The results suggested that engagement (β = .48, t = 9.36, p < .001) was positively related to positive emotions. The model of engagement with Instagram Stories on negative emotions was significant, R2 = .06, F(1, 294) = 18.38, p < .001.
The model explained 6% of the variance. The results suggested that engagement (β
= .24, t = 4.29, p < .001) was positively related to negative emotions. Thus, engagement with Instagram Stories was found to be related to both positive and negative emotional outcomes (see Table 13). That is, the more participants engaged with Instagram Stories, the stronger their emotions were. Although engagement with Instagram Stories significantly predicted both positive and negative emotions, the standardized coefficient was stronger between engagement and positive emotions than that between engagement and negative emotions. Also, it is important to note that, the mean scores of positive emotions were higher than negative emotions (see Table 9 for details), suggesting that participants tended to experience a higher level of positive emotions than negative ones when using Instagram Stories.
Table 13
Summary of Regression Analysis Results of Engagement Predicting Emotions (N = 296) Positive Emotions Negative Emotions
Variable B SE β t B SE β t
Engagement .48 .05 .48*** 9.36 .22 .05 .24 4.29***
R2 .23 .06
F 87.68*** 18.38***
Note: ***p < .001.
4.4. Mediation Analysis
H1 explores the relationship between engagement and social media
dependency, while H2 and H3 propose the mediation role of positive and negative emotions in that relationship. Therefore, this research conducted a parallel mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (2019, model 4, 10,000 bootstrap resamples) with engagement of using Instagram Stories as the independent variable, positive and negative emotional outcomes of Instagram Stories use as the mediators, and social media dependency as the dependent variable. The results revealed a positive direct effect of engagement with Instagram Stories on social media dependency (c’ = .34, SE
= .06, 95% CI: = [.23; .46], p < .001), and significant indirect effects of engagement with Instagram Stories on social media dependency via positive emotions (ab = .08,
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SE = .03, 95% CI: = [.01; .15]) and negative emotions (de = .12, SE = .03, 95% CI: = [.06; .19]) (see Table 14).
Specifically, in the mediation of positive emotions on the relationship between engagement using Instagram Stories and social media dependency, engagement was positively associated with positive emotional outcomes (a = .48, SE = .05, 95% CI: = [.38; .58], p < .001), while positive emotions positively affected social media
dependency (b = .17, SE = .06, 95% CI: = [.05; .28], p < .01). The results suggested that the greater the engagement with Instagram Stories is, the more likely participants would experience positive emotional outcomes, which, in turn, increases social media dependency. Additionally, in the mediation of negative emotions on the relationship between engagement using Instagram Stories and social media dependency,
engagement was a significant positive predictor of negative emotional outcomes (d
= .22, SE = .05, 95% CI: = [.12; .33], p < .001), while negative emotions had a positive effect on social media dependency (e = .53, SE = .06, 95% CI: = [.42; .64], p
< .001), indicating that negative emotions increases as engagement with Instagram Stories increases, which, in turn, enhances social media dependency. Lastly, the total effect of engagement of Instagram Stories use on social media dependency was significant (c = .54, SE = .06, 95% CI: = [.43; .66], p < .001). Therefore, these findings support the mediating effects of both positive and negative emotions on the relationship between engagement with Instagram Stories and social media
dependency. H1, H2, and H3 were therefore supported (see Figure 1).
Table 14
Standardized Direct and Indirect Effects of Engagement on Social Media Dependency (N = 296)
Direct effect Indirect effect Mediation
Engagement ® SMD
0.34*** (SE: 0.06, CI: 0.23 to 0.46)
Engagement ® Positive emotions ® SMD 0.08 (SE: 0.03, CI: 0.01 to 0.15)
Partial Engagement ® Negative emotions ® SMD
0.12 (SE: 0.03, CI: 0.06 to 0.19)
Partial Note: **p < .01; ***p < .001.
SMD, social media dependency.
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Figure 1. Tested parallel mediation model.
Note: **p < .01; ***p < .001.
a = direct effect of engagement on positive emotions; b = direct effect of positive emotions on social media dependency; c’ = direct effect of engagement on social media dependency; c = total effect of engagement on social media dependency; d = direct effect of engagement on negative emotions; e = direct effect of negative emotions on social media dependency.
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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Considering that Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day (Instagram, 2020) and the lack of understanding into the psychological mechanisms behind such growing phenomenon, this research builds on the U&G theory to first understand specific motivations for users to engage with the fastest growing feature of Instagram, and then examines the associations among engagement, emotions, and social media dependency with a specific focus on Millennials in the U.S., because the U.S. headed the ranking of the countries with the most Instagram users, especially popular among young adults (Statista, 2019d). This research is significant in that, it contributes to the U&G literature by developing a typology of motivations underlying Instagram Stories use. This research also applies the engagement framework from the literature (Muntinga et al., 2011) to examine engagement with Instagram Stories and demonstrates psychological effects of such usage.
5.1. The Typology of Motivations for Instagram Stories Use
Eight motivations for Instagram Stories use were obtained in this research:
exploration, recognition-seeking, perceived functionality, entertainment, social sharing, interaction, novelty, and surveillance. The results suggest that users of Instagram Stories not only share several key motivational dimensions with other SNS users (Whiting & Williams, 2013), but also have motivations that are unique to this feature.
Of the eight motives, exploration was the strongest motive driving Instagram Stories use, which illustrated and confirmed that many users use Instagram Stories to explore, acquire knowledge and keep up with current trends to learn new things. This motive is associated with the “virtual exploration” motivation identified by Mull and Lee (2014) in that, users are motivated to explore image-based SNSs to search for interesting images and ideas. Similarly, in this study, participants were found to use Instagram Stories to interact with brands, to browse and buy products/services, to get free and exclusive information in real time, to keep up with current trends, and to learn about new things. Due to the nature of Instagram Stories and its features, users
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are allowed to get quick updates easily and exclusively on Instagram Stories by following different types of accounts, such as brands and influencers/celebrities. For instance, brands use Instagram Stories to showcase the latest products/services or tutorials without the full description. Users can also get a sneak peek of certain products/services and to swipe up to be redirected to brands’ websites or landing pages for more detailed information.
The recognition-seeking motive suggested that participants used Instagram Stories for self-promotion and popularity obtainment, which is similar to the
“coolness/popularity” motivation proposed by Sheldon and Bryant (2016) that people are interested in using cool features and being on a platform that is popular among peers. Likewise, Instagram Stories users tend to use Instagram Stories to create their own portfolios to promote themselves, show off, and become popular. For example, Instagram Stories users are likely to post content of “self-experiences” to showcase their tastes or lifestyles to be seen and valued (Greenwood, 2013) and they may feel appreciated and respected accordingly. While Instagram users can gain a substantial amount of “like” on their posts, they can gain a substantial amount of “viewing numbers” or “emoji reactions” on their Stories, which indicate and validate their popularity and can positively affect their self-worthiness and self-identity.
The perceived functionality motive indicated that users of Instagram Stories considered the feature easy to comprehend, simple to navigate, convenient, casual, and real, integrating usability and functionality (Korhan & Ersoy, 2016). While posts on Instagram tend to be unrealistically edited and create feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem (Macmillan, 2017), Instagram Stories are relatively unedited or authentic (Facebook, 2018), since the embedded camera within Instagram Stories allows the content to be shot casually, easily and quickly (Wagner, 2018). Therefore, such perceived functionality may encourage users to share the content spontaneously without time-consuming editing and help reduce their feelings of deficiency and inferiority.
The entertainment motivation showed that participants used Instagram Stories for fun, enjoyment, pastime, and they expect to gain entertaining experiences on Instagram Stories. According to a study from Facebook, 55% of Instagram users in the U.S. use Instagram Stories to see playful or funny content (Facebook, 2018). As Instagram constantly introduces new features on Stories, users are enabled to use
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various filters or stickers to entertain themselves. For example, Instagram Stories utilized AR technique and introduced a variety of prediction filters, such as “which Disney character are you?” or “In 2020 I will be.” The filters randomly select a Disney character or an adjective to describe what users will be like this year, and display the outcome above users’ head. Besides, users become more interested in entertaining Instagram Stories than static photos (Lorenz, 2019).
The social sharing motive manifested that participants used Instagram Stories to express and share information, to record what happens in daily life, to see what others share and receive others’ responses, and to feel a sense of belonging. As visual communication facilitates self-expression (Waddell, 2016), users may use Instagram Stories to share their feelings; hence, Instagram Stories may be used as an outlet of users’ emotional release. Besides, Instagram Stories users, by expressing themselves or sharing information they think is interesting, can receive responses (e.g., replies or direct messages) from others and in turn gain social support, which may make them feel they belong to the community and enhance their self-affirmation. Also, instead of considering the colors, the organizations, and the original aesthetics of Instagram, users nowadays tend to think less when sharing Instagram Stories (Lorenz, 2019), which may be one of the factors that facilitate the sharing behaviors on Instagram Stories.
Another motive, interaction, indicates that participants used Instagram Stories to interact with others (i.e., user-to-user/direct interaction) for social connection and relationship maintenance, or with the content (i.e., user-to-content/indirect interaction) when they rate, save, share the content or leave comments (Shao, 2009). Instagram Stories allows its users to reply to others’ Stories and provide a variety of interactive features, such as question stickers, to facilitate social interaction. For instance, similar to question stickers, Instagram Stories has been swept by “Ask me my top 3” recently.
Through “Ask me my top 3,” users can post their answers to their followers’ questions in a template with the ranking of top three answers. Plus, Instagram Stories is
indicated to have improved users’ communication with family and friends (Facebook, 2018). Also, the results showed that participants interacted with Instagram Stories content to receive benefits such as giveaways. This notion is in line with the
“remuneration” motivation identified by Muntinga et al. (2011), suggesting that
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brand-related online activities may be driven by economic incentives (e.g., money or rewards).
The novelty motive emerged as participants used Instagram Stories for its transiency: it disappears after 24 hours unless saved, followed by the perceived new and privacy gratifications. With the ephemeral nature and superiority in instant image-sharing and editing compartment (e.g., filters, drawings, emojis) (Ting, Ming, de Run,
& Choo, 2015; Wagner, 2018), users not only tend to present more authentically due to such fleeting feature (Facebook, 2018), but also acquire both intimacy and
immediacy of social presence, and perceived loneliness can thus decrease (Pittman &
Reich, 2016). Plus, new features constantly introduced by Instagram Stories enable users to express themselves freely in diverse creative ways (Instagram, 2019). Despite the traditional features of highlighting gratifications, the new and interactive features constantly introduced by Instagram Stories also facilitate social interaction.
The final motivation factor found in this research is surveillance, which is defined as keeping up with or get knowledge about others (i.e., family and friends).
Similar to Sheldon and Bryant’s (2016) findings, surveillance is one of the influential motivations for Instagram usage. Besides, it was found that 61% of U.S.
Instagrammers check Instagram Stories to see what their friends are doing now (Facebook, 2018). Likewise, the results indicated that participants used Instagram Stories to learn what others are doing. However, in this study, participants were found to use Instagram Stories to keep in touch and get updates on close ties, such as family and friends. While the surveillance motivation identified by Sheldon and Bryant (2016) is more likely to fulfill users’ gratifications of voyeurism and gossip, and be potentially related to envy that might lead to depression (Tandoc, Ferrucci, & Duffy, 2015), this study labels the surveillance motivation for Instagram Stories use as the information gained about others that can help maintain interpersonal relationships and fulfill the need to belong, and thus ameliorate loneliness (Alhabash & Ma, 2017).
5.2. The Relationship between Motives and Engagement
Instagram Stories users tend to engage with Instagram Stories in different ways: consuming, contributing, and creating. Previous research has revealed entertainment to be an overall motive for media consumption (Katz et al., 1974;
McQuail, 1983; Shao, 2009). Likewise, the findings of this research show that
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participants consumed Instagram Stories mainly for entertainment and perceived functionality. Similar to Bryant and Davies’ (2006) and Yang’s (2016) findings, this study confirms that through the selection for consumption of entertaining content on Instagram Stories, users could alter their mood and regulate their mood states as well as becoming less solitude by learning about others’ lives and what is happening, which may facilitate actual social interaction. Apart from that, a variety features of Instagram Stories such as filters were found to enhance users’ gratifications of Instagram Stories consumption. Content shared on Instagram Stories are mundane, spontaneous, and realistic in real time, offering both intimacy and immediacy of social presence, which in turn attenuate perceived loneliness (Pittman & Reich, 2016).
Therefore, gratifications generated from exposures to the creative and ephemeral content may stimulate the involvement with Instagram Stories.
In addition to consuming, participants of this research also contributed to Instagram Stories to express themselves and interact with the content as well as with others. Specifically, the social sharing and social interaction motivations were found to drive both contributing and creating behaviors on Instagram Stories. While social sharing through contributing to Instagram Stories refers to engaging in
self-presentation, self-expression, and self-assurance behaviors (Muntinga et al., 2011), Millennial users were found to contribute to Instagram Stories to present their personalities, shape their identities, and receive recognition from others in order to gain self-assurance. With the development of virtual communities, they can connect and interact regarding shared interests, social support, sociability, and identity (Wellman, 2001). Moreover, Instagram Stories’ fleeting nature indeed limits the content viewing time, which facilitates users’ urge to respond (Bayer et al., 2016), and thus accelerates social interaction. Also, the phenomenon is considered associated with Millennials’ desire for immediate gratification, since their attention spans are usually limited (Flecha-Ortíz, Santos-Corrada, Dones-González, López-González, &
Vega, 2019).
Finally, Instagram Stories users reported that they created content for
recognition-seeking, social sharing, interaction, and novelty. Interaction was found to be the major motivation for creating Instagram Stories, followed by social sharing, recognition-seeking, and novelty motivation. Out of Millennials’ desire to be visible in their social networks (Flecha-Ortíz et al., 2019), they create, produce, design, edit,
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or publish Instagram Stories to express their personal identities or opinions and maintain their social relationships through its novel features. By expressing
themselves on Instagram Stories, users may feel empowered and exert influence on others (Muntinga et al., 2011; DeVeirman et al., 2017). For example, a user can tag the location of a restaurant and post his/her experiences in that restaurant on
Instagram Stories to share or to influence others’ future decisions to go there. While maintaining social relationships has the potential to “subtly embrace us in the warmth of self-affirmation, the whispers of encouragement, and the meaningfulness of
belonging” (Hughes, Waite, Hawkley, & Cacioppo, 2004, p. 1), Millennials’ social relationships developed and maintained on SNSs may as well provide positive effects (e.g., happiness). In support of this notion, the findings also show that Millennials create Instagram Stories to feel a sense of belonging, so they share self-related information to receive responses from others.
5.3. Engagement with Instagram Stories and Emotional Outcomes The results showed that engagement with Instagram Stories is associated with both positive and negative emotions, corresponding to Weinstein’s (2018) findings.
Nevertheless, consistent with Lin and Utz’s (2015) study, the current study found that positive emotions were more prevalent than negative ones when users used Instagram Stories. Specifically, Instagram Stories use was positively associated with positive emotions, such as joy, contentment, optimism, peacefulness, and excitement.
Participants exhibited stronger emotions in joy, contentment, optimism, peacefulness, excitement, surprise, love and romantic love during Instagram Stories use. While entertainment is related to all types of online engagement activities (Muntinga et al., 2011), a possible explanation is that the visual and functional aspect of the feature is entertaining, funny and enjoyable so that users gain gratifications from it. Plus, with the real-time exchange of texts, stickers, images, videos, or voices via direct messages, interaction with others on Instagram Stories can render users to feel more intimate, connected and less solitude (Yang, 2016). Therefore, in line with Pittman and Reich’s (2016) and Bayer et al.’s (2016) findings, the use of Instagram Stories can attenuate users’ loneliness and increase their happiness, and that the real-time of exposure to Instagram Stories produces emotional gratification effects.
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On the other hand, participants showed relatively fewer negative emotions during using Instagram Stories; however, negative emotions such as envy, loneliness, discontent, worry, sadness, anger, shame, and fear were still found to be associated with Instagram Stories use. Specifically, the results showed that envy, loneliness, and discontent were found to the major negative emotional outcomes of Instagram Stories use. Although negative emotions are less likely to be experienced during Instagram Stories use, it is plausible that through social comparisons, users may feel insufficient and dissatisfied with their own lives, and maliciously envy others’ happiness and ways of spending vacations and socializing, which might diminish their own life satisfaction. Yet, on the other hand, if the Stories are from strong or close ties (i.e., family, friends), users may be more likely to be happy for them and experience benign envy (Lin & Utz, 2015). Even though social comparison on social media can be the
“thief of joy,” it is not the stimulant of negative emotions (De Vries et al., 2018).
Interacting with others and browsing Instagram Stories can decrease the feelings of loneliness owing to the comforts provided by Instagram Stories, whereas frequent Instagram Stories broadcasting may signify loneliness (Yang, 2016), because users who post Instagram Stories frequently might seek for support or attention from others (Blight, Jagiello, & Ruppel, 2015).
5.4. Engagement, Emotions, and Social Media Dependency
As expected, engagement with Instagram Stories was found to have a significant positive impact on social media dependency. Align with the literature that a high level of engagement plays a predictive role in addictive use of Internet activities (Charlton, 2002; Fan et al., 2017), this study found that participants who highly engaged in using Instagram Stories tended to become dependent on the feature. This could be
understood that as users obtain a variety of gratifications from using Instagram Stories, they may find the experience of using Instagram Stories enjoyable and immersing, which, in turn, makes them rely on Instagram Stories. In this way, the more users engage with Instagram Stories, the more likely they are to experience addictive use of Instagram Stories and become dependent on it.
While this research provides empirical support to the positive relationship
While this research provides empirical support to the positive relationship