Relationships between Twitter Viewing Frequency, Conformity Orientation, and Psychological Characteristics Affecting Collection of Personal Information in Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study investigated the psychological characteristics of people who repeatedly viewed Twitter tweets each day. A questionnaire survey was administered to undergraduate students on two occasions (n=240 and n=167). The results suggested that people who repeatedly viewed tweets daily reported the following psychological characteristics more strongly compared to those who did not access Twitter: “public self-consciousness”, “conformity orientation”, “self-recognition need”, and “escape from negative information need”. In addition, high frequency viewers were attracted to certain types of tweets, such as monologues from their close friends. However, no clear differences in psychological characteristics were observed between high frequency viewers and medium or low frequency viewers. Other factors leading to high frequency viewing remain to be determined.View full abstract