Abstract
Social media which includes Facebook enable users to construct relationships and networks as well as sharing of information. By enlisting Facebook users as proxy, this paper attempted to analyze the different emotional states experienced by social media users, specifically to gauge what effect their usage motivation and usage pattern had on the ambivalence level of the users. The quantitative survey result revealed that usage duration or the time of day when Facebook was accessed had no relevant impact on one's ambivalence level. However, there was a direct correlation between frequency of Facebook usage and the ambivalence level. The more the user logged onto Facebook the more suppressed his or her expression became due to fear of giving negative impressions to others and also receiving their negative feedbacks, which then subsequently added to the user's ambivalence. People's main reasons for using Facebook were identified as "chatting," "communicating," "maintaining relationships," "relationship building," "networking," and "finding information about friends," but only "maintaining relationships," "communicating," and "networking" had observable effect on ambivalence. There were no noticeable differences among genders with regards to ambivalence and usage levels, but there was a marked difference based on the user's age. For example, people in their forties showed higher levels of ambivalence than those in their twenties. This may be attributed to anxiety they face as they use Facebook primarily to expand their networks and to maintain relationships. As such, it is surmised that their fatigue level from using social media will only increase. Meanwhile, Korean Facebook user's emotional manifestation tended to skew toward relation-involved ambivalence rather than the self-defensive type. This relation-involved ambivalence might be something that can actually help prevent damage to relationships by limiting excessive emotional expressions. In other words, such ambivalence by Facebook users may be a positive element in a user's social media interaction.
본 논문은 SNS 사용증가에 따라 페이스북 이용자들의 정서적 양가 감정태도가 어떻게 다른지를 정량적으로 조사하고, 페이스북 이용동기와 이용행태가 양가성 태도와 어떤 상관성을 갖는지 탐색하였다. 설문조사 결과, 페이스북 이용시기와 이용시간보다 접속횟수가 양가성에 영향을 미치며, 페이스북 이용동기 중 '인맥넓히기', '관계유지', '연락 주고받기'의 이용동기가 양가성 태도와 상관성이 높은 것으로 나타났다, 또한 페이스북에 대한 영향력인식이 양가성 태도에 통계적으로 유의하게 나타났으며, 성별차이는 없었지만 40대의 페이스북 이용자들이 정서적 양가성을 크게 느끼는 것으로 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과는 인맥확장과 관계유지를 위해 페이스북을 자주 접속하는 40대 이상의 이용자들일수록 정서적 양가성 태도를 갖게 되며 그로 인해 페이스북 피로감도 증가할 것임을 시사한다.