Advertising

Symbolic interactionism

World Wide Web

Sociology

Business

Psychology

Political science

Chemistry

Sample (material)

Programming language

Scope (computer science)

Media consumption

Disadvantaged

Media use

Consumption (sociology)

Social science

Computer science

Chromatography

Social network (sociolinguistics)

Social media

Social psychology

Technology in Society

The goal of this study is to understand the differences in scope and patterns of frequency of use and interactive and active consumption on three leading social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter [1]. A representative sample of 501 participants completed an online survey. Of all participants, 95% had a Facebook account, 70% had an Instagram account, and 26% had a Twitter account at the time of the survey. The study found that gender, age, status, and education can predict the frequency of overall use, active use, and interactive use of social media. The findings are explained by the symbolic interactionism approach: Although it might seem that traditional role norms would be maintained on social media, social platforms appear to offer members of disadvantaged social groups, such as women, singles, younger adults, and less educated individuals an opportunity to affiliate with a large group that shares their cultural codes.

My social network: Group differences in frequency of use, active use, and interactive use on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter