“What You Post in the Group Stays in the Group”: Examining the Affordances of Bounded Social Media Places

Abstract

This study focuses on the affordances of bounded social media places (BSMPs), low visibility places within social media platforms like private messaging and private groups. While researchers have focused on BSMPs within specific platforms, this study presents a systematic examination of BSMPs across multiple platforms to facilitate theoretical durability. Interviews with users of BSMPs across diverse platforms (N = 35) reveal that BSMPs discourage the affordance of visibility as they are considered private due to visibility management mechanisms and trust in known audiences. They encourage personalization as users believe they receive relevant content from and can send relevant content to specific audiences, in the absence of algorithms. BSMPs also encourage synchronicity by facilitating continuous conversations. The strength of encouragement or discouragement of these affordances varies across different BSMPs and is informed by users’ social positions. This study therefore contributes a framework and shared terminology for future research on BSMPs across social media.