Analyzing adolescents’ Social Media Posts: Insights from Data Donations in Three European Countries

This study explores the nature of adolescents’ posts on social media using a data donation approach within three different European countries. Adolescents (NBelgium = 106, NFrance = 118, NSlovenia = 114) donated screenshots from their most recent posts/stories on Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. The various themes present in the visuals of the screenshots were coded, and data were linked to survey measures to explore individual differences. The results demonstrated the prevalence of nature, friends, and travel themes across platforms, whereas mental health, substance use, and romantic relationship themes were only limitedly featured. One-way repeated measures ANOVAs showed some significant platform differences for education (more prevalent on Snapchat), memes/jokes (more prevalent on TikTok) and nature (more prevalent on Instagram). Zero-one inflated beta regression models indicated individual differences in terms of gender, age, country of residence, and social media mind-sets. These results may guide the focus of future research interested in social media posting dynamics within adolescence.