Date of Submission

Spring 2023

Academic Program

Division of Social Studies; Sociology

Project Advisor 1

Yuval Elmelech

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Through a sociological perspective, this piece attempts to further understand social media dynamics, particularly the concept of "oversharing" online through original data collection and sociological theory. Centered around a month-long Instagram study, the objective is to further understand what compels some young adult users to overshare, the consequences of oversharing online and how they effect the poster, their following and social media platforms generally. Recruited participants were instructed to follow and engage with Loren's, an entirely faux persona created by the researcher, Instagram account where she frequently posted content most would label "oversharing". While participants understood Loren was a fictitious character, solely created for research, they were instructed to engage with her account as authentically and closely to how they would if it actually appeared in their feed. Using data extracted from the account, along with responses from the follow-up questionnaire and known sociological theory, this paper analyzes varying perceptions and approaches to interacting with online oversharing as an attempt to further understand the entirety of the concept of oversharing on social media.

Open Access Agreement

Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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