Abstract

Prior social media research has identified a range of motives within a classic framework of use and gratification to answer why people use social media. To date, most work has used a variable-centered approach to investigate how TikTok use motives that are quantified with a composite score to influence outcomes. By comparison with prior work, this current study conducted 2 studies (Study 1: full-time employee; Study 2: college student; Ntotal = 680) that investigated TikTok use motives or gratifications following a person-centered approach. We conducted latent profile analysis and identified four profiles of TikTok use motives: deep motivators, lone motivators, mood-elevating motivators, and slight motivators. We also found that these motivator profiles differentially predicted individual outcomes (TikTok addiction, labile self-esteem, subjective well-being, and engagement). Our findings contribute to the TikTok use literature by exploring how TikTok use motives combine and develop different motivator profiles.

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Paper Number 1170; Track Human; Complete Paper

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