Sense of Community on Twitter and Instagram: Exploring the Roles of Motives and Parasocial Relationships

Although research has explored the ways in which people form virtual communities to converse about media figures, television shows, and similar topics, little research has examined the link between virtual communities and the parasocial relationships (PSRs) that are often the focus of these conversations and users' experiences in those virtual communities. We examined sense of community (SOC) on Twitter and Instagram as a function of users' motives for use and users' PSR on the sites. In addition to examining the relative importance of different motives for using Twitter and Instagram, we predicted that PSR would mediate the association between motives for use and SOC. Results of an online survey revealed that Instagram users (n = 276) reported stronger social interaction motives than did Twitter users (n = 223). Social interaction and expressive information sharing motives were directly positively associated with SOC for users of both sites. Instagram users also exhibited indirect effects of expressive information sharing and companionship motives on SOC, through PSR. These findings suggest potentially influential differences between Twitter and Instagram, particularly regarding the role of PSR in fostering a general SOC.