Exploring the motivations underlying the use of paralinguistic digital affordances on Facebook

Paralinguistic digital affordances (PDAs) are the most commonly used feature on SNS. However, relativity little is known about the factors that influence their use. The current study aimed to further investigate the use of PDAs on Facebook, by considering how social capital and the positivity bias influence the use of PDAs. and examine the effect of narcissism subtypes on motivations to use PDAs. It was hypothesised that more PDA responses would be given to both positive images and strong ties. It was also hypothesised that grandiose narcissism would positivity predict motivations to use PDAs as assertive self-presentation tactics; that vulnerable narcissism would positivity predict motivations to use PDAs as both assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics and that vulnerable narcissism would predict positivity predict the motivation to consider consequences and other user's emotion prior to using PDAs. Facebook users (`N` = 136) responded to fictitious Facebook posts (in a 3 x 2 design, with positive, neutral and negative images purportedly posted by strong and weak social ties) and measures of narcissism and PDA motivations. Results were that the positivity bias is not only present in the content posted on Facebook, but also in PDA response. Individuals were just a likely to respond to close and weak ties for positive images but were less likely to respond to negative valanced images when posted by a weak tie. Analysis via multiple regression indicated that both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism predicted the motivations to use PDAs as assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics. The findings offer theoretical contributions to the fluctuation hypothesis and spectrum model of narcissism, providing a potential avenue for future research. It can be concluded that the simple act of creating a PDA on Facebook has surreptitiously complex motivational bias.