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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1406895

"Left on Read" Examining Social Media Users' Lurking Behavior: An Integration of Anxiety and Social Media Fatigue

Provisionally accepted
XiaoYu Liu XiaoYu Liu 1,2*Ran Feng Ran Feng 1Xiaobing Chen Xiaobing Chen 1,3Yu Yuan Yu Yuan 2
  • 1 Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, City University of Macau, Macau, China
  • 2 School of Culture and Media, Shanxi College of Applied Science and Technology, Taiyuan, China
  • 3 School of Broadcast Announcing Arts,Communication University of Zhejiang, Hangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    With the widespread use of social media, the behavior and mindset of users have been transformed, leading to a gradual increase in lurking users, which can impede the sustainable development of social media platforms. In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on social media users' anxiety, social media fatigue, and lurking behavior.Methodology: For the confirmation of these phenomena and to validate the theories, a structural equation model was constructed based on the SSO (Stressor-Strain-Outcome) theoretical framework.The model was then tested and validated with data from 836 valid online surveys. These data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0 software.The results indicate that intrinsic motivations (such as social comparison and privacy concerns) and extrinsic motivations (including information overload, functional overload, and social overload) are positively associated with users' lurking behavior through the mediating effects of social media fatigue and anxiety. Additionally, for the mediator variables, social media fatigue was found to be positively associated with anxiety.Discussion: These findings underscore the importance of social media platforms considering both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors to mitigate user anxiety and social media fatigue. By addressing these factors, platforms can foster user satisfaction and increase engagement, ultimately contributing to the sustainable development of social media platforms.

    Keywords: Perceived overload, social comparison, Privacy concern, Social media fatigue, Anxiety, lurking behavior

    Received: 25 Mar 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Feng, Chen and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: XiaoYu Liu, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, City University of Macau, Macau, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.