Social Media Use Scale
The Social Media Use Scale (SMU) is a self-report questionnaire developed to assess individuals’ frequency of social media use across various social media platforms. In developing the SMU, the authors aimed to create a reliable and valid tool to measure social media use that could be used in research studies.
The development and validation of the SMU involved two studies. In Study 1, the authors generated a list of 31 social media activities based on a comprehensive review of the literature and qualitative interviews with college students. These activities were then used to construct the SMU questionnaire. In Study 2, the authors aimed to determine the factor structure of the SMU and identify which items should be retained in or removed from the final measure.
The SMU consists of 31 items, each representing a different social media activity, such as “posting a status update on Facebook” or “liking a picture on Instagram.” For each item, participants are asked to rate the frequency with which they engaged in that activity on a nine-point scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 9 (Hourly or more) over the previous seven days. The authors chose a nine-point response scale because it has been shown to be more reliable and valid than other rating scales.
The authors recruited a total of 311 participants from a private university in the Midwestern United States for Study 2. The participants were between the ages of 18 and 23, and the majority identified as White or Asian. Participants completed the SMU questionnaire, as well as 12 other questionnaires to assess various traits of interest. The internal consistency of each trait measure was calculated for each participant.
The authors found that the SMU had a clear factor structure with three main factors: Active Posting, Passive Viewing, and Communication. Active Posting included items related to creating and sharing content, such as “posting a status update on Facebook” and “posting a picture on Instagram.” Passive Viewing included items related to consuming content without actively engaging, such as “scrolling through Facebook” and “browsing pictures on Instagram.” Communication included items related to communication between users, such as “direct messaging on Twitter” and “sending a snap on Snapchat.”
The authors also found that the SMU had good convergent validity with measures of extraversion, neuroticism, social comparison, and fear of missing out. The authors suggest that the SMU is a reliable and valid tool for researchers interested in measuring social media use across multiple platforms.
In summary, the SMU is a 31-item questionnaire designed to measure individuals’ frequency of social media use across various platforms. The development and validation of the SMU involved two studies and showed that the questionnaire has a clear factor structure and good convergent validity. The SMU provides researchers with a reliable and valid tool to measure social media use in future studies.
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