Behavior-Change Goals for Social Networking Sites

Despite the benefits they derive from social networking sites (SNSs), members of those services are not always satisfied with their online behaviors. The investigation of desires for behavior change in SNSs both provide insight into users’ perceptions of how SNSs impact their lives (positively or negatively) and can inform tools for helping users achieve desired behavior changes. We use a 604-participant online survey to explore SNS users’ behavior-change goals for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. While some participants want to reduce site use, others want to improve their use or increase a range of behaviors. These desired changes differ by SNS, and, for Twitter, by participants’ levels of site use. Participants also expect a range of benefits from these goals, including more free time, contact with others, intrinsic benefits, better security/privacy, and improved self presentation. Based on these results we provide insights both into how participants perceive different SNSs, as well as potential designs for behavior-change mechanisms to target SNS behaviors. Author