Analysis Of Mobile Social Media Usage Needs Based On Network Analysis Method

With the rapid development of technology,mobile phones and the Internet have been popular.Consequently,online social networking sites have been widely used.In the field of user requirement analysis,two hot topics have emerged.One is to explore why people intended to use social media applications(apps).The other one to find out how to develop an app to better meet users’ requirement.Most previous studies summarized the rules of users’ social media use behaviors based on big data.However,human behaviors are the external manifestation of their mind.Therefore,we should examine users’ requirement of social media apps from the perspective of psychology.Previous studies in this domain had several shortcomings.First,most of them were cross-sectional studies which cannot reveal the changes of individuals’ requirement over time.Secondly,previous studies had proved that social media use was closely related to interpersonal relationships and many psychological factors.However,limited by traditional data analysis methods,most previous research in this area only focused on several variables at one time.Therefore,this study aimed to explore the relationships between social media use and interpersonal problems and psychological factors from a network perspective using a longitudinal design.In the first study,422 college students answered the questions about social media use,interpersonal problems,loneliness,fear of missing out(Fo MO),depression,anxiety,and stress.Correlation network analysis and Bayesian network analysis were conducted to examine the relationships among these variables and potential casual relationships.Besides,the mediating effect of loneliness and Fo MO between interpersonal problems and social media use requirement(SMUR)was examined.Results showed that SMUR was positively correlated with Fo MO,loneliness,and anxiety;Fo MO might directly influence on SMUR;loneliness and Fo MO mediated the relationships between interpersonal problems and SMUR.The second study was a longitude study(including 3 surveys,with an interval of 2 weeks),involving 286 college students.First,correlation network analysis was used to explore the cross-temporal relationship among the seven variables.Results showed that the decrease of stress,depression and interpersonal relationships might be associated with social media use.Then,cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted to explore the interaction between SMUR and interpersonal problems and psychological factors.Results showed that there were no interactions between them.Finally,the latent growth curve model(LGCM)was used to explore the changes of individuals’ requirement over time.Results showed that at the beginning of the semester,male students had lower SMUR than female students.However,as time goes by,male’ SMUR became higher,and females’ SMUR became lower.Eventually,males’ SMUR was higher than that of females.And in general,interpersonal problems and Fo MO positively predicted college students’ SMUR.The results of the current study suggested that individuals with higher levels of interpersonal problems,loneliness,Fo MO and anxiety have higher SMUR.Although the results indicated that social media use might reduce stress,depression,and interpersonal problems,more rigorous causality test are needed to testify these relationships.