Does ostracism/rejection impact self-disclosures? Examining the appeal of perceived social affordances after social threat

Abstract

Two studies examine how experiencing a social need threat (ostracism and rejection) impacts subsequent preferences for self-disclosure to various digital audiences. Findings consider how contextual/situational factors like need threats may impact the appeal of two established perceived social affordances of media: personalization and privacy/visibility. Participants took part in a (bogus) social media activity to elicit feelings of inclusion/ostracization/rejection and then were asked about sharing their media preferences with various potential audiences. Results show that social need threats have no significant impact on privacy preferences but do affect preferences for sharing with some audiences and not others. Notably, ostracized and rejected participants show different patterns of preferences, suggesting these forms of social need threat may have distinct impacts on future self-disclosures. Implications for online relationship development and community building are considered in the discussion.