Self-presentation Strategies And Social Capital In Social Networking Sites From Uses And Gratifications Perspective

Social networking sites (SNSs) are home to millions of internet users around the globe, where people can traverse their cyber social network with maximum control over their way of presenting their own self in online environment. Current study proffers the idea of uses and gratifications theory’s application to assess self-presentation strategies and social capital in SNSs to check what motivates users to adopt certain self-presentation strategies and formulating social capital. In order to seek understanding of hitherto unheeded work, a self-administered survey was undertaken in different universities of Wuhan city among students making the sample size335(N=335). Findings of the study showed some unique relationships between motives of SNS usage and the two variables of self-presentation (SP) and social capital.Apropos to our first question, regression analysis showed that competence strategy was overwhelmingly adopted by the users; competence strategy of SP was strongly predicted by professional advancement motive. While exemplication and supplication strategies were predicted by social interaction and habitual pass-time motives. Whereas, ingratiation strategy was significantly predicted by professional advancement, social interaction and relaxing entertainment. Analysis pertaining to our second question showed that bridging social capital was heavily predicted by social interaction, relaxing entertainment and expressive information sharing motives. And bonding social capital was strongly predicted by professional advancement and social interaction motives. In the end current study’s last regression analysis between self-presentation strategies and social capital showed that ingratiation and exemplication strategies were strong predictors of bridging social capital, while bonding social capital was strongly predicted by competence, supplication and exemplication strategies of self-presentation. The results of the study suggests that users of SNSs keep certain motives in mind to indulge in certain kind of tactics to present themselves and engage in maintaining specific type of relationships online.This dissertation draft consists of five chapters; chapter one about introduction contains background and rationale of the study that why this work is important to be assessed. Chapter two reviewed the previous literature which supports and related to this study. Chapter three contains methodological framework which illustrated the applied methods undertaken to investigate the main idea. Results have been placed in chapter four where descriptive analysis has been materialized after statistical data analysis. While fifth chapter of analysis and discussion, puts light in detail on the relations hypothesized between the variables following running statistical tests. Finally, sixth chapter concludes the findings of the study. In the end theoretical and practical implications have also been discussed along with limitations and future research of the field.