Platform-swinging in a poly-social-media context: How and why users navigate multiple social media platforms

Guided by the frameworks of niche and polymedia theories, this study sought to understand the phenomenon of platform-swinging on social media, which refers to the routine use of multiple social media platforms that has become commonplace across different ages. Based on focus group discussions (FGDs) with 62 social media users in Singapore, this study found that social media users engage in platform-swinging for relationship management and self-presentation gratifications. While these gratifications are also served by individual social media platforms, platform-swinging allows social media users to navigate structural, social, and norm barriers to obtain greater gratification opportunities. This has implications on how social media users subsequently regard and segment their personal relationships.