Why Do We Want to Show Ourselves? A Qualitative Study on the Use of Social Media in the Society of Exhibition

Abstract

In this article, based on the idea of the society of exhibition, the main motivations and guiding factors behind the exhibition in social media have been studied. Only undergraduate students studying at universities within the borders of Turkey and actively sharing on social media were included in the scope of the study. Since the research was conducted only with undergraduate undergraduate students, the subject discussed was limited to this group. Qualitative research methods and techniques were used in the study. In the study, in which content analysis and descriptive analysis techniques were used, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 university students through semi-structured interview forms. In the analyzes made, it was found that there are a number of reasons behind the display, including psycho-social and techno-social. Psycho-social reasons can be expressed as the desire to be liked, the desire to show, the desire to attract attention, the desire to transcend oneself and the feeling of obligation. Techno-social reasons are online interactions, offline interactions, desire to be famous, social surveillance, personal privacy perception. The findings were compared with the literature and it was seen that the findings were quite original.