Senior citizens on Facebook: How do they interact and why?

Eun Hwa Jung, S. Shyam Sundar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

110 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study investigated why senior citizens use Facebook and how they participate in specific activities on Facebook in order to gratify their needs. An online survey of 352 senior citizens over 60 years old revealed four primary motivations for using Facebook: social bonding, social bridging, curiosity, and responding to family member requests. The analysis of the relationship between senior citizens' motivations and their participation in activities on Facebook indicates that social bonding is a major motivation for participating in most activities on Facebook. In addition, data reveal that using message-based interactivity features on Facebook (i.e., posting on other people's wall and Facebook chatting with others) leads to greater Facebook use. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of senior citizens' Facebook use as an emerging communication tool.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)27-35
Number of pages9
JournalComputers in Human Behavior
Volume61
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • General Psychology

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