Social media elements, media content, and well-being: a communication approach

This article presents a content-based, communication-centered approach to the study of how social media use might affect well-being. It is organized around three elements of social media: social TV, the message, and the stream. This article first identifies the discrete characteristics of three social media elements to establish that this framework can be applied across devices and platforms. Second, it identifies the content dimensions included in each element that are most likely to influence well-being. Third, it summarizes the likely associations between each of the three elements and well-being at the momentary, the within-person, and the between-person levels. Fourth, changing trends of social media consumption are established. Fifth, these changing trends are explored in relation to the mechanisms by which social media use might influence well-being. By linking the content of discrete social media elements to well-being mechanisms, this manuscript offers a content and communication focused approach to study social media use in relation to well-being.