The Investigation of Social Communication Apprehension and Motives for Social Network Sites Usage

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the possible connection between social network sites (SNSs) usage and communication apprehensiveness or communication easiness. Survey was conducted (N=229) to find a possible connection between communication apprehension or easiness and the use of SNSs in addition to the motives for the use of some popular SNSs. The survey was conducted at a private university in Turkey and probability sampling was used to select the sample from the population. It was found that socially communicative individuals connected to SNSs for long hours. Facebook users were drawn by two leading motives to use Facebook: relaxing entertainment and professional advancement. Expressive information sharing was the main reason why users connected to Twitter. The motives for using Google+ were meeting with new people, and habitual pass time-companionship. Escapism and habitual pass time-companionship motivate individuals to use SNSs more frequently and for long hours. On the other hand, individuals who have a need for ‘meeting new people’ had more number of SNSs. The findings were discussed by using several theoretical perspectives (e.g., the rich get richer, and U&G) in the results section and included practical recommendations and further suggestions.