Influence of Social Media Motives on Personal Identity-A Qualitative Review

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines motivation as an influence or a force to do something. Social media motivations are such which influences people to post content online and receive greater engagement by generating ‘traffic’ on their content. People engage in social media for a lot of reasons for example, to escape from reality, to socialize with other people, venting out emotions, getting information and for personal utility. Social media platforms are used by men to socialize and build contacts while women use social media for procuring information and education. While these are tangible reasons an often discussed element is identity who according to Zacares and Iborra is defined as set of associated self-representations and evaluations. These self-evaluations are often influenced by motives when connecting online. Henceforth, this paper aims to study the influence of social media motives on personal identity.