Abstract
The relationship between social media and users' emotions is a prevalent research topic in computer-mediated communication. This study aims to explore the features of social media platforms that affect users' emotional self-expression and the strategies employed by users to express their emotions in text-based communication. Semi-structured interviews with ten regular users of major social media platforms, namely Facebook and Zalo, were conducted to collect data. Results showed that online network density and size, visual properties, and content display were three features that influenced users' emotional expressions. To convey their emotions on social media platforms, users employed both verbal strategies (e.g., using affect terms and verbosity) and non-verbal strategies (e.g., using punctuations and emoticons). Some participants used punctuation marks, especially question marks, and emoticons to express positive emotions, while others used verbosity to express negative feelings. Implications for using social media platforms are discussed.
TopIntroduction
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) encompasses various forms of human communication through electronic gadgets (Adrianson, 2001, Hung et al., 2022). With the advent of social media platforms as a form of CMC, people can share their emotions with a broad audience with a single touch on a smartphone (Kross & Chandhok, 2020). Sharing information, including emotional self-expression, has been considered the most frequent purpose for joining social networking sites (Li et al., 2020; Lin & Lu, 2011). Social media is becoming an essential medium for users to exchange and receive information, particularly in seeking support for health and crises (Jin et al., 2016; Li et al., 2020). The relationship between emotions and online social networks is a prevalent topic of researchers (Dhingra & Parashar, 2022; Galen, 2017; Kross & Chandhok., 2020; Pantti & Tikka, 2014). In the past, researchers argued that it was challenging to express emotions in CMC because non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and body movements were absent (Rice & Love, 1987; Sproull & Kiesler, 1986; Short et al., 1976). However, other researchers have found that online communication seems to boost the expression of emotions rather than deter people from disclosing their feelings (Choi & Toma, 2014; Derks et al., 2008b; Serrano-Puche, 2016). Additionally, many studies have been conducted to investigate users’ emotional communication on social networking sites. Some studies focused on examining a particular emotion, such as annoyance (Livingstone et al., 2014), envy or jealousy (Christofides & Desmarais, 2009), hope (Fürst, 2014), and resentment (Risi, 2014). Also, a few studies explored users’ perceptions of the appropriateness of expressing positive or negative emotions (Lin et al., 2014; Waterloo et al., 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Computer-Mediated Communication: Computer-mediated communication refers to the communication between people and digital devices, including personal computers, smartphones, smartwatches, and digital assistants (e.g., Alexa and Siri).
Emoticons: Emoticons are typographical symbols that replace facial expressions in computer-mediated communication. For example, the laughing face “:D,” sad face “:(,” smiling face “:)” are three standard emoticons.
User Interface Design: The user interface is the point of human-computer interaction and communication on a device, webpage, or app. This can include display screens, keyboards, a mouse, and the appearance of a desktop.
Verbosity: Verbosity is the act of performing wordiness in communication. This means using more words than are needed to convey a massage.
Affect Terms: Affect terms refer to the feeling that a human has, such as anger, anxiety, depression, joy, or satisfaction.