Rejected or ignored?: the effect of social exclusion on Instagram use motivation and behaviour

Instagram is one of the most popular social networking services worldwide. This exploratory study was conducted to examine the relationships between social exclusion, Instagram usage motivation (self-promotion, social interaction), and Instagram usage behaviour (frequency of photo uploads, degree of interest in photos uploaded by others). A total of 359 Korean Instagram users responded to an online survey. As a result of correlation analysis and path analysis, it was found that being rejected correlated most with social interaction motivation and being ignored correlated with self-promotion motivation. Findings also indicated that self-promotion motivation was highly correlated with the frequency of photo uploads, leading to Instagram users uploading photos of people, food, and objects more frequently. Social interaction motivation showed a close relationship with a degree of interest in photos uploaded by others, leading users to view and respond to photos of people, food, and objects posted by other users. This study is the first study to suggest social exclusion as an antecedent factor that influences Instagram usage motivation and usage behaviour.