Ignore the Affordances; It's the Social Norms: How Millennials and Gen-Z Think About Where to Make a Post on Social Media

Abstract

How do Millennial and Gen-Z young adults decide between competing social media when choosing where to post? Previous research argues that decisions can be modeled based on these users' Goals, and the Affordances, Features1, and Social Norms of those media. To evaluate this model, 19 participants were given different self-presentation scenarios and asked to choose between Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Participants also constructed a flowchart to represent their mental model of factors influencing their choices. Data suggest revisions to the model; rather than reflecting Affordances and Features, we found that Social Norms and Goals primarily drove participants' choices. Participants choose media based on a direct match between Goals and existing Social Norms. Only when they failed to detect such a match did participants consider Affordances and Features. We present a revised conceptual model based on these results and discuss social media design and theory implications.