The presentation of self on WeChat Moment : the role of personality traits and network characteristics.

Abstract

In this day and age, the rapid development of internet-based communication tools has greatly changed the way we socially interact, especially for social networking sites (SNS) which enable people to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships online, but also provide an ideal environment for self-presentation. The present study aimed to investigate how individuals present themselves on one popular SNS, WeChat; and explore factors that might impact their self-presentation, such as personality traits and network characteristics. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 252 WeChat users (age range = 18-66 years, 61.1% female). Results indicated that individuals do use WeChat differently and employ different strategies to present themselves online; and that both personality traits (e.g., extraversion, self-monitoring) and network characteristics (e.g., network size) matter. Findings extend prior research on self-presentation and SNS use behaviours. Implications and limitations are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.