Abstract
<p>While research has increasingly identified platform-specific differences in consequences of using social media, few studies have examined users’ self-reported experiences compared across multiple platforms. Understanding experiences with specific platforms can inform regulators, parents, and public health authorities, who all have actions they can take to affect platform specific usage. In the present research, we examined independent associations between changes in usage across different social media platforms and changes in a person’s user experience. We present findings from a longitudinal panel study of 1,030 U.S. adults (Mean age=41.2; 61% female) incorporating six waves of the Understanding America Study’s Neely Social Media Index Surveys. We report the first cross-platform longitudinal comparisons of four self-reported user experiences associated with using social media: a) negative personal experiences, b) encounters with content considered bad for the world, c) meaningful social connections, and d) useful learning experiences. Using within-person fixed effects analyses, we found substantial platform-specific heterogeneity in users' self-reported social media experiences over time. For example, we found that usage of Twitter/X, Facebook, and YouTube was associated with increased likelihood of reporting both negative personal experiences and encounters with harmful content. Usage of Snapchat was associated with reporting increased meaningful social connections. YouTube usage showed significant and TikTok usage showed marginal associations with reporting increased useful learning experiences. These initial findings underscore the importance of monitoring subjective user experiences on social media, and motivate future research to examine how platform affordances and user characteristics jointly shape divergent user experiences.</p>