Gone for Better or for Worse?: Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms

Tina Morlok, Ioanna Constantiou, Thomas Hess

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

The implementation of functionalities inspired by ephemerality represents a new and promising direction for social media platform providers to ensure active user participation. Social media platforms that already rely on ephemerality show increased activity rates. However, ephemerality represents a whole new principle in the social media context; and its impact on user perceptions and behaviours has hardly been explored. Building on an exploratory research approach, we seek to develop an indepth understanding of how and why perceived ephemerality affects user behaviour. Based on 37 interviews with users of ephemerality-based platforms and drawing on a thematic analysis, we depict the promising nature of ephemerality by revealing its positive impact on user behaviour, such as an increase in users’ willingness to share information. We found that users’ control perceptions help to explain this positive relationship. However, and contrary to existing knowledge, we found that, in specific conditions, perceived ephemerality can negatively affect user behaviour. This adverse effect can be explained by users’ loss perceptions as an underlying cognitive mechanism. From a practical perspective, our findings highlight the need to keep the delicate balance of potential upsides and downsides of ephemerality when implementing functionalities.
The implementation of functionalities inspired by ephemerality represents a new and promising direction for social media platform providers to ensure active user participation. Social media platforms that already rely on ephemerality show increased activity rates. However, ephemerality represents a whole new principle in the social media context; and its impact on user perceptions and behaviours has hardly been explored. Building on an exploratory research approach, we seek to develop an indepth understanding of how and why perceived ephemerality affects user behaviour. Based on 37 interviews with users of ephemerality-based platforms and drawing on a thematic analysis, we depict the promising nature of ephemerality by revealing its positive impact on user behaviour, such as an increase in users’ willingness to share information. We found that users’ control perceptions help to explain this positive relationship. However, and contrary to existing knowledge, we found that, in specific conditions, perceived ephemerality can negatively affect user behaviour. This adverse effect can be explained by users’ loss perceptions as an underlying cognitive mechanism. From a practical perspective, our findings highlight the need to keep the delicate balance of potential upsides and downsides of ephemerality when implementing functionalities.
LanguageEnglish
Title of host publicationECIS 2018 Proceedings
Number of pages16
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
Date2018
Article number1014
StatePublished - 2018
EventThe 26th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2018: Beyond Digitization – Facets of Socio-Technical Change - University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Duration: 23 Jun 2018 → 28 Jun 2018
Conference number: 26
http://ecis2018.eu/

Conference

ConferenceThe 26th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2018
Number26
LocationUniversity of Portsmouth
CountryUnited Kingdom
CityPortsmouth
Period23/06/2018 → 28/06/2018
Internet address
SeriesProceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems
ISSN0000-0034

Bibliographical note

CBS Library does not have access to the material

Keywords

  • Ephemerality
  • Ephemerality-based platforms
  • Control perceptions
  • Loss perceptions
  • User behaviour
  • Information privacy

Cite this

Morlok, T., Constantiou, I., & Hess, T. (2018). Gone for Better or for Worse? Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms. In ECIS 2018 Proceedings [1014] Atlanta, GA: Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems
Morlok, Tina ; Constantiou, Ioanna ; Hess, Thomas. / Gone for Better or for Worse? Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms. ECIS 2018 Proceedings. Atlanta, GA : Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 2018. (Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems).
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Morlok, T, Constantiou, I & Hess, T 2018, Gone for Better or for Worse? Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms. in ECIS 2018 Proceedings., 1014, Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), Atlanta, GA, Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, 23/06/2018.

Gone for Better or for Worse? Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms. / Morlok, Tina; Constantiou, Ioanna; Hess, Thomas.

ECIS 2018 Proceedings. Atlanta, GA : Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 2018. 1014.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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Morlok T, Constantiou I, Hess T. Gone for Better or for Worse? Exploring the Dual Nature of Ephemerality on Social Media Platforms. In ECIS 2018 Proceedings. Atlanta, GA: Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). 2018. 1014. (Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems).

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