Self-determination affects the use of self-presentation strategies on social networking sites

We examined how orientation of self-determination affects the use of online self-presentation strategies among social networking site users. Participants were 374 young adult WeChat users (age range = 18–22 years; 166 men, 208 women) who completed the self-report measures of the General Causality Orientations Scale and the Online Interpersonal Communication Strategies Scale. The results indicated that an autonomy orientation of self-determination was positively related to the use of automatic ingratiation strategies; a controlled orientation of self-determination was the most active motivational orientation and was related to the use of the online self-presentation strategies of ingratiation, self-promotion, exemplification, and supplication; and an impersonal orientation of self-determination was primarily associated with use of the supplication strategy of self-presentation. These novel insights regarding self-determination could help to explain individual differences in online self-presentation.