Why we post selfies: Understanding motivations for posting pictures of oneself

Yongjun Sung, Jung Ah Lee, Eunice Kim, Sejung Marina Choi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

215 Scopus citations

Abstract

Photo sharing on various social networking sites (SNSs) has become an important part of the online social experience. SNS users utilize various types of pictures, particularly selfies (pictures one takes of oneself), to display their personalities, lifestyles, and preferences. In this study, we identified the motivations that drive selfie-posting behavior and examined the roles of the selfie-posting motivations and narcissism in predicting selfie-posting behavior. Our findings first revealed four motivations for posting selfies on SNSs: (1) attention seeking, (2) communication, (3) archiving, and (4) entertainment. Further, results showed that the motivations of attention seeking, communication, and archiving as well as narcissism significantly predicted selfie-posting intention while narcissism was the only significant predictor of selfie-posting frequency. In light of these findings, areas for future research are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)260-265
Number of pages6
JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
Volume97
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

  • Motivation
  • Narcissism
  • Selfies
  • Social networking sites (SNSs)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Why we post selfies: Understanding motivations for posting pictures of oneself'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this