To unfriend or not: exploring factors affecting users in keeping friends on Facebook and the implications on mediated voyeurism

Abstract

The goal of this study was to explore the tendency for people to keep friends on Facebook whom they do not maintain frequent or regular contact with. Drawing upon theories on self-consciousness and self-presentation and individual differences, the paths from the Big Five personality traits and the tendency to keep friends through public self-consciousness and Facebook self-presentation were examined. The paths from Facebook voyeurism to public self-consciousness and Facebook self-presentation were particularly salient. The direct and indirect effects further provide empirical support for understanding the fluid and unsettling notion of mediated voyeurism.

Keywords:

• Facebook
• self-presentation
• Big Five
• voyeurism
• public self-consciousness

Notes on contributor

Shaojung Sharon Wang, PhD, is an assistant professor of Institute of Marketing Communication at National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. She explores the effects of using new communication tools on social, cultural, and political changes and how they translate into human interaction. She may be contacted at [email protected].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [102-2410-H-110 -026 -SS2] and partially supported by Aim for Top University Plan [02C030301].