Exploring the motivations for live posting during entertainment television viewing

Rooted in the Uses and Gratification approach, this study investigated the motives of live posting, a media behavior that is fundamental to Social IV/second screening. Focus group interviews with 33 participants generated 19 motivational items that were original to live posting. Factor analysis based on college student samples (n = 259) revealed four classes of motivations: social connection, catharsis, engagement, and extending enjoyment. Of these, extending enjoyment significantly predicted the frequency of live posting in general. Although there were no gender differences across the identified motives, different patterns in predicting the frequency of live posting via specific platforms such as Twitter and instant message services were revealed. Results were discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.