To Tweet or ‘Subtweet’?: Impacts of Social Networking Post Valence and Directness on Interpersonal Impressions

• In Event: Interpersonal Relationships on Social Media: How Social Media Mediate

Abstract

The emergent phenomenon of subtweeting denotes using a micro-blogging platform to refer to another social networking site (SNS) user without giving his/her name (Parkinson, 2014). This study investigates, within the context of SNSs, the influence of post valence and directness (about another user) on onlookers’ impressions of source and message, and their willingness to relate. Using Face Theory (Goffman, 1967) and Social Information Theory (SIP; Walther, 1992) as frames, we hypothesized that positive valence messages and their sources would be perceived more favorably when compared with negative valence messages. Results of an experiment provided support for the hypothesis. Mostly, impressions did not differ as a function of post directness, but there were significant valence by directness interaction effects, indicating a directness advantage in the case of positive, but not negative, SNS messages about other people. We present implications for Face Theory, politeness, and SIP, and practical guidance for SNS users.

Authors

• Autumn Payge Edwards, Western Michigan University

• CJ Gentile, Western Michigan U

• Chad Edwards, Western Michigan U