The impact of sex and personality traits on social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way people use social media in a particular manner. The paper aims to investigate the impact of the pandemic on the use of social media, taking into account the sex and personality types of users in Poland. The survey involved 469 active users of social media. The data were analysed with statistical methods. A significant part of the respondents believed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the way they used social media. They pointed out that the most common social media use drivers were immediate needs, often of pragmatic nature, such as rapid communication and exchange of information, and social needs. Among the survey population, it was the women who were more active on social media, particularly regarding Instagram. They were also more active on Pinterest and Snapchat. Men were more active on YouTube. Extraverts published more often on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Pinterest by a wide margin. They were also more active in general and more often judged social media content. The respondents indicated social platforms they believed would gain or lose popularity in the nearest future. The overall conclusion is that the pandemic may be a good time to launch new social platforms or promote less popular ones with new functionalities and narrow targets.