Table 6.
Overview of the Intimate behavioural archetype.
| Intimate Behavioural Archetype | ||
| Internal Characteristics | Description | |
| Identity | Feels confident and needs to use their real name and image for online profiles; updates his or her profile picture regularly | |
| Kindness role | Has inner confidence and is eager to help others by listening to their problems and offering help | |
| social media boosts the feeling of being secure and FoMO | Comfortable when engaging online, but natural curiosity means that any interruption to online activities can result in fear of missing out | |
| Self-presentation | Confident about personal appearance and regularly changes his or her profile picture as a reminder of his/her presence and current status. This may also result in a tendency to compare their life with the perceived lives of others | |
| Trust and positive expectation | Believes that his or her online friends can be relied on and is, therefore, keen to interact with them | |
| Examples of Usage and Associated Emotions (Positive and Negative) | Emotion Example | |
| Positive usage experiences | Social media are a tool for communicating with friends and family | Happiness, joy, astonishment |
| Social media are useful for reciprocal messaging, posting, and commenting, i.e., interactive social communication | Satisfaction, liking, joy | |
| Social media as a source of fun and entertainment | Pleasure, joy | |
| The Intimate user is well-liked and social media are a useful way of making many friends from various locations and backgrounds | Happiness, enjoyment, satisfaction | |
| Negative usage experiences | Using social media for longer than required | Regret, anger |
| Unwelcome communications received online, including disagreeable messages from friends, inappropriate subject matter, or comments with which one disagrees | Dislike, neglect | |
| Use of social media to compare one’s own life with those of one’s contacts | Jealousy, unhappiness | |
| Limited or no access to social media due to connectivity problems or restrictions imposed by a specific social context | Nervousness, anger, fury, unhappiness |
|
| A continual need to know about contacts’ activities, resulting in fear of missing out | Worry, fear, jitteriness |
|
| Psychological States | Usage Experiences | |
| Loss of interest | This occurs when there is little change of content, interaction, and contacts, resulting in the experience becoming repetitive | |
| Boredom | Arises when they lose popularity due to an inactive profile and the same content being posted | |
| Anxiety | This could result from spending too much time on social media, being unable to access social media. The belief that contacts expect a quick response to posts or online activity may also provoke anxiety | |
| Loneliness | Arises if, over time, the Intimate user comes to rely on social media in daily life and an inability to communicate leaves him or her feeling excluded | |
| Craving | This can arise in the face of routine. They are using social media on a daily basis which then turns into a daily habit | |
| Depression | This can occur when they engage in downward social comparison with others in order to meet self-evaluation needs | |