Motivating Factors to Self-Disclosure on Social Media: A Systematic Mapping

Background: Self-disclosure on social media can cause some privacy risks, but it benefits users and businesses if adequately managed. Companies may benefit from users’ self-disclosure on social media to better understand the consumers’ needs, customize services or products, and address users’ concerns to sculpt positive brand reputation, trust, and sales. In addition, users’ better understanding of self-disclosure motivations helps them manage more suitable topic, platform, and concepts to match the intended online personal or professional persona. Finally, technical communicators’ understanding of the motivation for social media self-disclosures can help them leverage available self-disclosure in producing more effective technical communication and carefully plan self-disclosures with clear motivations. Literature review: Many researchers have studied the varying self-disclosure motivations, but to the best of our knowledge, no mapping studies are currently available summarizing the motivations of self-disclosure on social media. Research question: What does the current research about self-disclosure identify as users’ motivation for self-disclosure on social media? Research methodology: We conducted a systematic mapping study that included relevant journal and conference publications. Mapping studies are suitable for structuring a broad research field concerning research questions about content, methods, or trends in the existing publications. Results: We found four categories for social media self-disclosures: discloser-related, audience-related, platform- and affordances-related, and perceived risk- and cost-related. Within the main categories, we found varying submotivations. We also discuss the implications of our findings and future research needs. Conclusions: The mapping of available studies helps researchers, academics, and practitioners understand existing self-disclosure motivations and research gaps. In addition, social media stakeholders planning to use social media self-disclosures within their areas of interest can use this study as a starting point to understand what drives social media self-disclosures.