Social Media Experience

This research paper explores the positive and negative experiences of social media users. It discusses themes like self-esteem, managing social media usage, and the impact on future generations. Findings show that social media can be a platform for building friendships, but also has negative effects on self-esteem. The research aims to understand the overall effect of social media on users.

Running Head: Social Media Experience 1
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE
STUDENT’S NAME
COURSE
UNIVERSITY
DATE

Social Media Experience 2
Abstract
This research paper is on the topic of "Social Media Experience." The usage of social media has
increased largely in this modern day scenario. Initially, people started using this medium to get
connected with their near ones. It is one of the most widely used platforms in this modern day
scenario. However there are also some negative impacts of using the social media. Often the
users become highly addictive to the social media platforms. Some researchers and psychologists
also highlighted Anti-social traits, which resulted in using Social media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, etc. Social Media users have shown the tendency of becoming socially addictive and
more socially interactive in real life. Generally, the research will focus positive and negative
experiences on social media the thematic analysis will empathize on themes like oneself-esteem
on social media, managing the use of social media, Social Media platforms are creating a
cybernetic world for interaction and entertainment thus affecting the future generation. An
interview was is carried and analysis on questionnaires, the discussion will take about 30 to 40
minutes for each participant. This paper examines the social media experiences traits generated
by using social media platforms. This assignment has been focused on finding out the effect of
social media over the users

Social Media Experience 3
INTRODUCTION
According to Fuchs, Boersma, Albrechtslund, and Sandoval (2012), social media forums
are computer intermediated technologies that allow the creation and sharing of different forms of
expression in the communities and networks. It is a new technology that is speedy growing in a
few years. For example Facebook, Whats-App, Tumbler, Instagram and many more. Instead of
making, these social media networks are creating mental pressure on every age of people.
Excessive use of this social media has led the society towards mental obsession, depression
(Fuchs, Boersma, Albrechtslund & Sandoval, 2012).
As technology advances, people are spending their valuable time in browsing different
internet platforms. Like on Facebook certain people have found their long lost family member
and friends,while on Instagram people impress and update their followers. People nowadays are
giving time to communicating with their peers and family members in real life. For example, if
you have a family or relative abroad, you can talk through massagers on social media platforms
hence avoids spending a lot of money with international calls. Social media also it can be used
for entertainment whereby one can watch videos and receive news on the platforms. Social
media can also be used as a business platform where you can advertise your goods and service
for the business. It's a platform whereby you can meet many people who can assist you in a way
or another. Social media is easy to use; it does not need anyone to go to class and study. The
research aims to discuss the peoples experience on social media on society.

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Methods
Participant’s information
The first member is Leonard’s participant (F) by the name Timothy, a 23years old
Entrepreneur, currently using social media and has been using it for ten years, the purpose of
using social media is for business and news update. The second member is Natasha’s participant
(C) by the name Stefanie, a 23 years old Blogger and an Entrepreneur, and she uses social media
every day for 11 years, the purpose is to know about people’s life. The third member is Erika’s
participant (E) by the name Keith, a 20 years student, using social media daily for keeping in
touch with friends.The fourth member is Jered Ming's participant (D) by the name Johanna, who
is 21 years old, a student using social media daily as a sharing platform.The fifth member is
Jeya’s participant (B)by the name Irene, who is 30 years old, a business owner using social
media daily. Using social media as a sharing platform and is aware of the pros and cons of social
media. The last member is Alicia’s participant (A) by the name Kavi who is 30 years old, a
freelancing yoga teacher and digital marketing using social media for 15 years. The reason for
being on social media is for business purposes.

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Interviews
The interview was conducted on Friday in the evening at around 5:00 Pm; it was set at
such time so that it will not distract the student’s schedule of their learning process. The non-
students were conducted, and they stated that the set time was the right diary of availability. The
interview often compiled sampling opinion poll. The type of question asked was about, the
experience of people on the social media, the time consumed when on social media, an example
of the problem, "How often do you use the Social Media?" a full copy of question can be found
on the appendix (interview schedule and transcript). The budgeted time for the interview to take
place was between 30-40 minutes. The meeting effectively took place, and it went as planned
(Hrastinski & Aghaee, 2012).
Ethics
According to Resnik (2011). Ethics is exceptionally vibrant in every research. Before
taking part in the study, the participants were given a consent form to sign and show that they
have an interest in the study. The indication on the pre-information sheet was that the
participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without any permission; the
participants have the privileges to pull back from the analysis. The participant was assured to be
comfortable to ask the question within the session or after the interview has ended if anything
was not definite. According to Ross, Loup et al., (2010), the rights of the participant are on the
hands of the researcher; however, the sovereignty and formality of a member will be treasured.
The record made during the session will be deleted after the results of the study went through.
The researcher is supposed to make the member feel secure for his privileges. The Individuality
and superiority of the applicant ought to be looked upon (Ross, Loup, et al., 2010).

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Analytic Procedure
As per Braun and Clarke (2014), the process of thematic analysis should be seen as an
original method for qualitative analysis and should be dedicated to assessing the outcomes. A
valuable research tool offers a flexible way for thematic analysis, which possibly gives a piece of
abundant, comprehensive facts. This research outline the guideline of6-phases to do the thematic
analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2014). The phases are getting used with the generation of initial codes,
data analysis, searching themes,defining themes, naming themes and final report writing.
According to Braun and Clarke, (2014), coding is a typical segment used as a regular component
for qualitative analysis, and this was not an enactment for statistics. Every coded data and similar
codes are grouped.
The second stage is the area where the data has been encrypted and gathered.Themes are
related to coding your systems to recognize the closeness in information and the dynamic
procedure topics that are not covered up (Braun & Clarke, 2014). The fourth stage is connecting
the coded section and checking if the full collection of information for the themes is working. It
therefore required rechecking the subject and reencountering a piece of reliable, ideal data
information. Also, it is needed to be directed and composed of a detailed study. Lastly, this
review must be properly analyzed and then used in the findings of the thematic analysis (Braun
& Clarke, 2014).

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Thematic analysis
The thematic analysis is one of the most mutual forms of analysis in qualitative research.
This method stresses on scrutinizing, identifying and recording patterns (themes) within data. For
the primary research, a review by use of 6 participant were made, and the conducted interview
included the 6 acquaintance (Shepherd, Sanders, et al. 2015). However, all the acquaintance
were given quick consideration to the task of carrying out the interview.
A flow chart of the thematic themes.
Social Media Experience
Positive Experience Negative Experience
Positive
comments
Managing usage
of social media
Building
friendship
Fare
accounts
Decreased
self-esteem
Influencers
Influence
cycle
Reliable
informatio
n
Communicati
ons

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Experience in building a friendship
Prefer social media
This is an act of finding friends and interacting with them on social media platforms.
Many participants prefer social media to build their rapport (Falk, & Bassett, 2017). According
to Kavi as it in the interview script line 75, and he said:
…“Ouch, it’s good! Because so far I have perfect friends on social media.” …
According to Stefanie, in the interview script line 153, she agreed that social media is a good
platform. And she said:
… “In a way, I think it's good (SMILING)” …
While Timothy says in the interview script line 98-99, that he also believes that social it for
interacting and building friends. And he said:
… “Mm, I think it is for building a friendship on social media. It’s cool for me, and then I
did build some friends through social media.”…
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded from the above findings that people are becoming more
comfortable by using the social media platforms. They are feeling comfortable in interacting
with their online friends from different other countries. Being friendly only in Social media
forums is to meet, have fun and interact with people from another country (Awang, Kutty, &
Ahmad, 2014). The majority of people have confidence that Social media is building the
relationship of the people. The young generation of the society is becoming much addicted

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towards the social idea. However, effort has to be taken so that they do not refrain or start
keeping themselves aloof from their real world due to the over exposure to the virtual world.
Managing the use of social media
This theme analysis focuses on managing the use of social media. Several responses from
the participant gave feedback on how they use the media platform (Grevet, Terveen, & Gilbert,
2014). Irene says in the interview script line 82-83
… “No no, I don't think that's why I left facebook. (Giggles), like the trends about the
dance they want; the car ‘Kiki challenge.' But the ice bucket one is quite nice lah.” …
While Johanna states in the interview script line 95-96, he says:
… “Um, I think I do not follow the trends on social media whenever I find it not
interesting or not meaningful.”…
Also, he added in the interview script line 40-41 and stated that:
… “Eh the trends? Let me check. (Pauses) Just some while others are just plain
stupid.”…
Conclusion:
The use of social media platforms depends on the mindset of one person. In real life, we
should focus on our career and practical life matters. Social-media us and distract our focus from
growth. The favourite participant in the analysis says that they are encountering difficulties on
social media (Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). The platform is not a source of communication for
correspondence to stay in contact. It is not the best platform to approach trends.

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Searching information using social media
Very knowledgeable and reliable:
This theme is used to analyse the data on social media. Social media is a platform where people
interact and shares information enhancing a broad scope to the access of information (Jakobson,
2014). According to the response fromTimothy in the interview script line 108 as he says social
media has material that give guideline to lifestyle. And he said:
…“There is a lot of pages that give me information about how to work out and eat
healthy diets.”…
While Irene says in the interview script line 114-117,she is currently an active user of Facebook,
and when it comes to searching and commenting, she prefers Google, which will link you to your
wants. She said:
…“It’s advantageous. Because when you find items of food, I believe whatever that, you
key in Google ah, it will link you to Facebook. First, it will link you to the restaurant,
particular shops,and through Facebook account first. Yah!So from there then you can see
their pictures, comment, and rate.It's' so convenient.” …
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that many people believe the social media platforms are useful
in current life since the media has many articles that provide information about healthy tips and
work out. When accessing it can redirect first to the page you need on Facebook (Jakobson,
2014).

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Decrease self – esteem
In the study by Woods and Scott (2016), they found that the self-esteem concerns about
user's physical appearance and close relationship with your friends; this is obvious mainly when
Facebook companions give positive criticism.
According to Stefanie in the interview script line 57-63, she said that the number of likes
determines how the photo is attractive. This is what he said,
… “Well!What I can say is, this narrative can be quite damaging, not only for young
children who can't tell the difference between real and fake but also for adults who can
understand but are subliminally influenced by it anyway. Looking at perfect people on
your feed all day is damaging to self-esteem because people are comparing their
imperfect lives to the carefully curated photo reel of someone else's life. And also let me
add violence that happens around the world, which is posted on social media freely. It is a
medium to spread positivity and happiness not hate.” …
Conclusion: the only minority does not like social media because it's people to create false
narratives about themselves whereby you can't differentiate between real and fake. The
respondent believes this act is destroying the self-esteem of social media users. It channels for
positivity and not for hatred (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles, 2014). This could be an example
because the participants state it reduces s their self-esteem because of some of the shares only for
information.

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Recommendation
Experiencing the use of social media platforms depends on the mindset of the person. In
real life, we should focus on our career and practical life matters. Social-media us and distract
our focus from growth. Focusing can solve all the depression caused by the usage of social
media (Reilly, 2011).
Bonding with family and friends – Online is not a Real-World Bonding. Using social media is
considered a suitable medium, but this isn't wanted real-world bonding. Interaction differs in
many ways. Real life bonding gives mental satisfaction and growth in the brain.
On should know every Social media friends in real life. The average users of Facebook don't
only the one-fifth of people are just friends, however, Social media aims to connect people, but if
this connection doesn't join us in the real world, then it's a diversion. Real friends make us feel
happy. A routine will be more efficient to divide time and relax. It will ones break bad habits.
One gets to choose how the day goes. One will be able to communicate with others without any
stress.We try to create another identity, which makes us introvert in real life (Reilly, 2011).If
social media is used for more than 2 hours a day, then it might become harmful to your mental
health. So we should avoid using social media as less as possible. It may be addictive, but the
above recommendation reduces addiction.
Conclusion
The users have so celebratedtheSocial Media platform. The users can become anyone
because it fuels our already broken society. It has causes children and adults to frequently check
their phones even though their friends and family are just within them. People nowadays forget
how to discuss real-world gathering. They are now into virtual chat and have conversations there
(Potts, 2013). Social media is as social as we may think. It works like a double edge sword and

Social Media Experience 13
does make us less social if we become addicted to this. Society feels our emotions and explores
the position of one person. When a person uses social networking for expressing feelings and
emotions they often become very detached. They are not able to see or interact with each other
face to face. Also, the social media platform is advantageous to the people who know how to use
it. It helps to find useful material that can help you to live a good life. One can interact and find a
new friend.

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Reference
Alberghini, E., Cricelli, L. and Grimaldi, M., 2014. A methodology to manage and monitor
social media inside a company: a case study. Journal of knowledge management, 18(2),
pp.255-277.
Awang, M. M., Kutty, F. M., & Ahmad, A. R. (2014). Perceived Social Support and Well Being:
First-Year Student Experience in University. International Education Studies, 7(13), 261-
270.
Casler, K., Bickel, L., & Hackett, E. (2013). Separate but equal? A comparison of participants
and data gathered via Amazon’s MTurk, social media, and face-to-face behavioral
testing. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(6), 2156-2160.
Falk, E. B., & Bassett, D. S. (2017). Brain and social networks: fundamental building blocks of
human experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(9), 674-690.
Fuchs, C., Boersma, K., Albrechtslund, A., & Sandoval, M. (2012). Introduction: Internet and
surveillance (pp. 1-28). Routledge.
Grevet, C., Terveen, L. G., & Gilbert, E. (2014, February). Managing political differences in
social media. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported
cooperative work & social computing (pp. 1400-1408). ACM.
Hawn, C. (2009). Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: how Twitter, Facebook, and
other social media are reshaping health care. Health Affairs, 28(2), 361-368.

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Hrastinski, S., & Aghaee, N. M. (2012). How are campus students using social media to support
their studies? An explorative interview study. Education and Information
Technologies, 17(4), 451-464.
Jakobson, G. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,769,004. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
Noble, H., & Smith, J. (2015). Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Evidence-
based nursing, 18(2), 34-35.
Potts, L. (2013). Social media in disaster response: How to experience architects can build for
participation. Routledge.
Reilly, P. (2011). 'Anti‐social’ Networking in Northern Ireland: Policy Responses to Young
People's Use of Social Media for Organizing Anti‐social Behavior. Policy &
Internet, 3(1), 1-23.
Ruths, D., & Pfeffer, J. (2014). Social media for extensive studies of behavior.
Science, 346(6213), 1063-1064.
Shepherd, A., Sanders, C., Doyle, M., & Shaw, J. (2015). Using social media for support and
feedback by mental health service users: a thematic analysis of a twitter conversation.
BMC Psychiatry, 15(1), 29.
Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media,
and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206.

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Woods, H. C., & Scott, H. (2016). # Sleepy teens: Social media use in adolescence is associated
with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Journal of
Adolescence, 51, 41-49.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2014). What can “thematic analysis” offer health and wellbeing
researchers?. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9.

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Appendix 1
The schedule of interview
1. How often do you use social media?
2. Which social media do you use more?
3. What is your purpose of using social media?
-business
4. What do you like in social media?
-to see, to do, to hear
5. What do you dislike in social media?
-to see, to do, to hear
6. How does social media influence you?
-self-image/self-esteem/grades
7. How does social media vary from one another to you?
8. What is your experience in communicating through social media?
9. What is your experience in posting in social media?
-picture
-comments
-reaction to likes and nasty comments
-sharing post
-posting video
10. What are the comments you usually receive?
-how you deal
11. How do you manage the usage of social media in your daily life?

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-does it impact positively or negatively
12. How is your experience with trends in social media?
13. What are your experience building friendships in social media?
14. What is your experience in finding a relationship in social media?
15. What is your experience of cybercrime in social media?
-fake accounts
-fake products
16. What is your expertise on cyberbullying?
- How do you deal with it
17. What is your experience of searching for info by using social media?
- Reliable
- Travel
- Food
18. What is your parent's perception of your use of social media?
19. How does social media influencer, influence you?
20. What is your experience of privacy while using social media?
21. How does social media influence your relationship with people outside of social media?
-friends
-family
-people in your daily life, etc.
22. What are the stresses that you experience from social media?
-how you deal with it
23. How is your experience in encountering viral issues in social media?

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24. How social media benefit you?

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Appendix 2
INTERVIEW SESSION
1. INT: hello, good afternoon how are you?
2. Z: hi I’m great
3. INT: let me introduce myself I’m XXXXXXXX
4. Z: I am Z
5. INT: hi Z! Nice to meet you.
6. Z: so you are studying for psychology. That's kind of interesting.
7. INT: yes it is so with your permission I will be recording the whole session as for my
assignment.
8. Z: yes sure go ahead.
9. INT: All right so this assignment is basically about your experience on social media, okay.
10. Z: Okay
11. INT: so shall we begin
12. Z: Yeap
13. INT: How often do you use social media?
14. Z: hmmm well every day. Which youngsters do not use social media anyway? Of course, 30
percent of them don't use it every day, but most people that I know off to use social media every
day.

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15. INT: couldn’t agree more. All right, which social media do you use more?
16. Z: Instagram
17. INT: All right, why do you use Instagram more?
18. Z: because now Instagram is the new thing Facebook was the new thing ten years ago and
maybe because of technology and people's way of …ahh dealing …ahhh no people's idea of
being on social media is different. Everyone is so excited with Instagram and Instagram can also
become the second YouTube because Instagram can also ahh put in videos as IGTV.
18. INT: cool what is your purpose of using social media?
19. Z: Well! Honestly, to know about peoples life more because humans are like that nowadays
they only want to know about other people's life compare to their own life because okay c' mon
we find it better to……..umm…… see people's post and talk rubbish about them but obviously
we don't want to know and accept the flaws of ourselves.
20. INT: you are right about this hahaha but what about the business platform?
21. Z: hmmm. You see hmmmmm……it's the same before knowing the product I've come to
understand that people judge them before even trying them out. For example, if anyone hears
Mac and Sephora people run to buy them, for example. Ahh if a…. um, a new product is
launched a by a newbie business person no one will buy regardless of how good the product is
because c' mon Brand name matters, who wants to buy a cheap product nowadays you tell me?
Even though we say that it has quality and reasonable for people still people do not believe in
that.
22. INT: how did you come to know about people judging them?
23. Z: well that is because I is an entrepreneur and I know what's it like in the business platform

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24. INT: excellent carrying on…. what do you like in social media?
25. Z: Oh, wow, I like what people post because I'm young, social media is everything, and I
want to see their post because they might be more entertaining than I might. I mean like c' mon
even when we take the train literally half of the people on board of the train is on social media
like they all working people and have a life and family, but no one can leave it because it is life
without it no one can last a minute. Because without Wi-Fi everyone life is doomed.
26. INT: what do you dislike in social media?
27. Z: Hamm okay I don’t like that social media allows people to create false narratives about
themselves
28. INT: why do you say that?
29. Z: well what I can say is this narrative can be quite damaging, not only for young children
who can't tell the difference between real and fake but also for adults who can understand but are
subliminally influenced by it anyway. Looking at perfect people on your feed all day is
damaging to self-esteem because people are comparing their imperfect lives to the carefully
curate photo reel of someone else’s life. And also let me add violence that happens around the
world, which is posted on social media freely. It is a medium to spread positivity and happiness
not hate.
30. INT: what kind of violence do you mean?
31. Z: hmm for an example a parent beating up a child with a cane and publishing it online that's
something inappropriate to do.
32. INT: understandable. How do social media influence you?
33. Z: I don't quite get you about this

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34. INT: sorry well what I meant was how social media does for an instant through your self-
image, self-esteem, and grades influence you.
35. Z: I see okay I get hmm well for me changes when I see an influencer on social media
because it changes how I bring myself out and portray myself in front of people hmmm what was
the other one you were saying
36. INT: your self-esteem and grades?
37. Z: oh self-esteem on the other hand changes the way how I feel about myself like when an
influencer or actor gives you so much importance, and you look up to them for almost everything
it changes the way you are as a person, for example, the way we dress and feel more comfortable
in the body we are and confident about ourselves. Hahahhahahha grades well it did not influence
my classes in anyways because I can say I go on social media, but I still manage to get good
grades in school and college it more about how you balance your social media life and real life.
38. INT: nice let us carry on how doe’s social media vary from one another to you.
39. Z: Every social media has different content.
40. INT: what kind of material?
41. Z: Um like, for example, Instagram and twitter vary from each other. Instagram allows you to
post any pictures or images in one post, and the same goes for videos, and we can even see
episodes of serial on Instagram just like YouTube and Twitter basically is a medium to tweet
your thoughts which back in the day we could not tweet more than 140 characters now you can
go beyond that and also post photo and videos but still does not get the attention that Instagram
gets. So I guess just like people changes through time so does social media and technology.
42. INT: Couldn’t agree more. What is your experience in communicating through social media?

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43. Z: I find Facebook messenger useful in communicating with my ex-classmates and ex-
schoolmates. However, I do not like the fact that strangers can send me messages.
44. INT: why don’t you like strangers sending messages?
45. Z: well it's because I don't communicate with people I don't know, and I don't intend to make
friends with strangers unless if they know me and I know them.
46. INT: Okay, What is your experience in posting in social media?
47. Z: Well posting a picture online actually makes me feel good about myself and also because I
get to let my followers see what I post and also allow people who never met you in a long time
understand what's going on in your life now, and I think at times in a way it also makes you
confident about posting without shying away from people.
48. INT: What about comments?
49. Z: When it comes to commenting ahh I'm not a comment person cause I don't comment on
people's picture only at times I say on images, but I'm more of a liking a picture type.
50. INT: could you tell me about your reactions to nasty comments?
51. Z: My reaction on likes and nasty comments are like seriously why do you need to do all this.
We do not spread hate and negativity yes, we live in a world that has the freedom to speak, but
still, we do not control people's lives and as the phrase say Don't judge a book by its cover cause
everyone has the right to live the lives the way they like.
52. INT: Yes, true…. how about sharing a post or posting videos?
53. Z: Sharing a post for me well I don't do it often but I think sharing a job with good content is
good because we get to share them with many followers and people get to know about
information but sharing a post with lousy content well that got to stop because it will just make
people become more narrow-minded. Hahahahahh. Actually. Umm posting a video is also

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something that I rarely do, but it is the same thing as I said about sharing a post the same thing
applies to this good content always matters even though in recent times harmful content always
makes the highlight.
54. INT: What are the comment you usually receive?
55. Z: Well I usually get positive comments on social media, yes I’m not saying I haven’t got
any negative comments I have but yes I do feel upset but that's life we just have to accept that
people are like that and what I did was just ignore the bad comments and focus on happiness and
positivity cause there are still people out there who appreciate me.
56. INT: How do you deal with it?
57. Z:( paused 2 minutes) ahh When I use to receive negative comments yes I used to be upset
and sad, but with the help of friends and family members, I got through it and continued with my
life take it as a lesson and don't care about what people say. Positive comments well what do I
tell everyone loves good comments; it goes to me it gives me the confidence to be a better
version of myself.
58. INT: OH wow great. How do you manage the usage of social media in your daily life?
59. Z: I make sure not to use it for too many hours
60. INT: does it impact positively or negatively?
61. Z: I try to be aware that a lot of social media is fake and therefore I shouldn’t let it impact me
62. INT: How is your experience with trends in social media?
63. Z: Umm well sometimes I myself am lost and entirely left behind the trends on social media
well I guess maybe that's why it's called as trends, but I don't quite follow them but the recent
one is Kiki challenge that everyone is so hyped about it looks impressive at the same time
dangerous, but well that's why it's called a problem.

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64. INT: What are your experience building friendships in social media?
65. Z: I think in a way its good (SMILING)
66. INT: in what way it’s okay could you elaborate more, please?
67. Z: You see well it's because you get to meet people from different country and culture it
doesn't mean we can only be friends with people in our country and it also open our minds on in
a different way, and we get to experience people with distinct personality and attitude, and yes
there is positive and negative nothing is comes in easy that is why we have to be very careful.
68. INT: What are your experience in finding a relationship in social media?
69. Z: ah interesting. Well what can I say it cannot be the same as when you meet someone in
person social media is different because we meet them online, of course, we cannot trust them
immediately we have to be more careful about what we say, and I can say what we also post
matters in a relationship on social media.
70. INT: why do you say that?
71. Z: Okay look, For example, relationship on social media that I’ve gone through was good but
it made me more cautious about my personal information because a person can know everything
about you in a fingertip, so we have to be extra careful.
72. INT: interesting.
73. INT: What is your experience on cybercrime in social media?
74. Z: Ohh I notice a lot of fake/troll accounts commenting on political news to rile people up —
a lot of fake products being promoted by famous people on social media. I don't buy into any of
them. I think it's all ridiculous.
75. INT: have you gotten any fake products before?

Social Media Experience 27
76. Z: ooooh yes I did, and it did severely to my skin. I believed a few accounts on social media
and decided to get it but ending up getting my skin spoiled very severely.
77. INT: how did you deal with it?
78. Z: hmmm I reported the account to the police officer, and it was a lengthy procedure as it
was complicated on their side to find the owner of the mind. I dealt with my not so good looking
skin for a year positively.
79. INT: WOW
80. Z: yeah tragic right….
81. INT: yes!
82. INT: What is your experience on cyberbullying?
83. Z: Well I've not gone through it honestly, but I think it is wrong for people to do it because it
affects people severely especially youngsters it eats them from inside and drives them to do
crazy things like committing suicide so this has got to stop.
84. INT: what can you do to stop cyberbullying?
85. Z: I’m not sure how to answer your question, but maybe our country needs to take
cyberbullying more seriously though I guess this would help it to stop.
86. INT: okay great….What is your experience of searching for info by using social media?
87. Z: what do you mean by info?
88. INT: what I meant was what kind of reliable source do you find info?
89. Z: Oh, I see hmmm I don’t use social media to search for information. I prefer using Google
directly. I believe there’s a lot of misinformation on social media and I’m reluctant to trust it. I

Social Media Experience 28
don’t think it’s reliable. I use Trip Advisor for travel. I use Google/YouTube/friend
recommendations for food.
90. INT: isn’t Google a social media platform?
91. Z: hahaha yes it is you're right
92. INT: what is your parent’s perception about your usage of social media?
93. Z: I think my parents are okay with me using social media now that I'm an adult. They did
not approve of it when I was a teenager, and I can understand why.
94. INT: why didn’t they approve it?
95. Z: Teenagers and young children are easily influenced by what they see, so their screen time
should be monitored and limited.
96. INT: okay next question would be how social media influencer does, influence you?
97. Z: I think they only influence me in terms of style.
98. INT: why do you say only in terms of style?
99. Z: well I like to see what they're wearing and sometimes that gives me ideas about what to
wear as well. But I don't spend a lot of money on clothes anyway, so it's very minimal influence
on my life
100. INT: What is your experience on privacy while using social media?
101. Z: I don’t think tech companies are doing enough to protect the privacy of the people who
use their social media platforms. Facebook’s data has been hacked several times, and their user
information has been leaked. And privacy laws are not up-to-date enough to keep up with social

Social Media Experience 29
media. I don't think it's safe at all. So I put as little as possible on social media to reduce any
privacy damage done to me.
102. INT: true indeed
103. Z: yes so it’s dangerous though
104. INT: How do social media influence your relationship with people outside of social media?
105. Z: Social media doesn't influence my real life. I keep my real life and my social media life
separate from each other, so the influence is very minimal
106. INT: What are the stresses that you experience from social media?
107. Z: I don't experience stress from social media. The only pressure would be that sometimes I
spend too much time on it and it's wasting my time. I deal with it by putting my phone away
from me/remove it from my sight, so I don't instinctively reach for it. Alternatively, I set a timer
for 30mins/one hour/1.5hours and in that time; I’m not allowed to touch my phone. I use these
methods when I’m trying to study.
108. INT: that’s very structured wow
109. Z: ha-ha thank you!
110. INT: how is your experience on encountering viral issues in social media?
111. Z: Well I can view opinions from both sides of the argument and develop my thoughts.
112. INT: what kind of opinions?
113. Z: Well opinions on issues, which I feel maybe I could be right in that.
114. INT: How do social media benefit you?
115. Z: It keeps me updated on the ongoing issues

Social Media Experience 30
116. INT: oh what kind of problems?
117. Z: For example, the case on New Zealand mosque attack, Philippines church attacks, etc.
118. INT: I see anyways thank you for your time that’s it from my side
119. Z: All right sure no problem.

Social Media Experience 31
Appendix 3
Informed consent
Faculty of Education, XXX Department of Psychology
My name is XXXX, and I am undertaking this project as part of my BSc (Hons) degree program
in psychology at XXXXXX, a partnership program with York St John University, UK.
Specifically, the project is for the module 2PY280 Qualitative Research Methods, addressed by
XXXXXX in XXXX. The research project will involve a one-on-one conversation with me, which
should run in between 30-40 minutes. The interview will be recorded in audio form, and I will be
taking notes on the transcript.
I don't anticipate that the interview will be particularly stressful, but it is essential that you are
aware that it has the potential to cover some sensitive issues which some people may find
confusing or upsetting. If you think that talking about this particular topic may be too distressing
for you, then please do not take part in the study.
Together with the participant, who is also conducting interviews, I will be scrutinizing the
transcript of your interview, along with other interview transcripts. You will not be mentioned in
my copy, which will be anonymous in a directive to defend the individuality of the participant
who is revealed in the interview. Similarly, the audio recording can be accessed by my tutors for
assessment, and by the external examiners.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in the study. If you have any questions, please you
are free to ask. Please fill and complete the consent form.

Social Media Experience 32
CONSENT RESEARCH FORM
Researcher’s Name: ______________________
Study Title: Social media Experience
The participant is supposed to read and fill this consent form carefully. If the participant is ready
to participate in this study, there is suitable responses, signature, and date for the assertion are at
the end of the document. The respondent should ask any question regarding any information
provided.
 Was the research well explained and presented to me by the researcher?
YES / NO
 I have understood that the research the interview will be lasting for around 30-45 minutes.
YES / NO I have understood that I can withdraw from this study at any time with my permission.
YES / NO I have understood all the information about me will be restricted and confidential, and I
won’t be named in any work arising from this study.
YES / NO
 I comprehend that any auditory tape substantial of mine for this research purposes will be
stored steadily after the University examination board confirms results mark.
YES / NO

Social Media Experience 33
I willingly agree to take part and participate in this research study without any margins, and I
have been given a copy of this form for my information.
Signature: _____________________________ Date: ___ – April – 2019