EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 8/10/23

Faculty at Washington University in St. Louis have released a tool called the Social Media Use Scale, which can use information about various types of social media to develop insights about user personality and behavior characteristics. The research was designed to better understand how social media may influence psychological well-being, since previous research has led to inconsistent and sometimes conflicting findings. Researchers looked at the frequency for user engagement across four different categories of social media:

• Belief-based use involves engaging with social media content and activities that express and reinforce negative opinions. These may be associated with depression and urges to view emotionally upsetting content. Users can be characterized by poor self-control and might engage in drama as a means to avoid boredom.
• Consumption-base use involves engaging with social media content largely for entertainment. It is associated with greater emotional wellness, greater self-esteem, reduced depression, and seeking content that makes the user happy.
• Image-based use involves engaging with social media on activities that promote a positive social image, such as self-promotional posts or tracking likes or comments on a post. It is associated with wanting to put oneself on display and to participate in activities that build self-worth.
• Comparison-based use involves engaging with social media content that may include comparison with others or an idealized state. Such activities can be associated with negative outcomes, lower emotional well-being, negative perception of physical appearance, or fear of negative evaluation.

The new model goes beyond previous models that looked primarily at whether users were passively or actively interacting with social media, which the authors felt didn’t fully explain how users interacted with social media platforms. The researchers looked initially at more than 170 college-aged students who were asked to spend a fixed time on social media and then describe their activities and level of enjoyment. The open-ended response format is unique in this area of research.

They then looked at additional cohorts of students, asking them to indicate how often they participated in the activities identified by the first study. They also completed common surveys that look at personality traits and behavioral characteristics, analyzing the data to find common patterns which led to the creation of the four categories.

The scale can be used on any social media platform that allows creation of individual profiles, connection with other users, and allows users to view lists of connected users. Key findings include the differences between image-based usage and comparison-based usage and their connection to depression and other negative mental health factors. This supports conclusions that social media use isn’t “all good” or “all bad” as far as mental health outcomes, but that different types of use play different roles in overall well-being.

I’ve been thinking about my own social media usage lately, particularly in the wake of Twitter’s rebranding to X. I’ve been largely silent on recent changes at Twitter because I didn’t want to be pulled into the drama around Elon Musk and his erratic behavior. Like many, I was also waiting to see how things might shake out before coming to a conclusion.

I admit that I haven’t been following Twitter’s performance closely and don’t know what it’s market share is or how it’s doing financially. However, I know that on a visceral level, my initial reaction to the rebranding has been decidedly negative. There was just something chipper and cheery about that little bird, and the fact that it symbolized (at least to me) the idea of one voice out there reaching lots of others. It felt positive, maybe hopeful.

Now we have a nebulous-appearing X that doesn’t symbolize much. For me, it gives the vibe of the unknown which isn’t always a good thing. Only time will tell as far as what happens to the company or whether another will rise up to challenge its market share in a meaningful way. Until then, we’ll have to keep our eye out for information on the proposed Musk/Zuckerberg steel cage match.

Although my Twitter use is in decline, I find myself increasingly sucked into continued use of Facebook due to different groups that have decided to use it alone as a method of communication. Email seems to be on the way out, even for organizations that were previously loyal to it. I still haven’t cracked the code on Instagram or how to use it in a meaningful way versus just using it to find pretty and distracting things to look at, so I’ll have to keep experimenting. Even with my side interests of crafting, I still find Pinterest to be largely annoying, so I won’t be spending much more time there. I’m open to other social media suggestions or even tips on how to get more out of the ‘Gram, so if you’ve got ideas please send them my way.

Even as a member of the HIStalk team, I frequently get my news and information from Mr. H. That was the case with how I learned about the recent changes to Zoom’s Terms of Service that allows the company to use customer-generated content for AI training. I know I had to take an update for Zoom on my work account recently, but of course like 99% of end users, I didn’t read the changes to the Terms of Service. It’s important to my work that I have access to that particular tool, since some of the vendors and clients I work with have issues going back and forth between Zoom and other platforms and have expressed a clear preference to use Zoom even though it’s not our organization’s standard.

The general sentiment out there was that with the edits to the Terms of Service, Zoom had invaded user privacy and the inability to opt out created substantial issues. The story linked above has been updated several times in the last day, with the most recent comment being that Zoom has made adjustments to section 10.4 of the Terms, stating that “For AI, we do not use audio, video, or chat content for training our models without customer consent.” However, legal experts aren’t in full agreement that it’s enough to protect user privacy.

Although what’s done is done on my work account, I’ll definitely be paying closer attention if I’m asked to take an update on my personal account, which I use primarily for meetings related to community groups and volunteer activities. I hope Zoom’s AI enjoys my content on amateur radio, needle crafts, and being in the great outdoors.

What are your thoughts on the ability of companies to harvest user data for their artificial intelligence pursuits? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.