Abstract:
In today‟s digital world, social media sites are frequently used. Each social media platform can appeal to different audiences due to its content and features. In the academic literature, there are several studies conducted to examine personality characteristics, motivations, attitudes and factors that determine the use of social media platforms. The Snapchat, besides from being an image-based social media site, is offering different experiences to its users with the help of many different features and continues to reach out to the masses every day. Nevertheless, there is limited information in the academic literature about the factors that affect Snapchat usage, user profile of Snapchat and personality traits of Snapchat users. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the main factors that motivate social media users to use Snapchat. Secondly, it is also aimed to explore the attitudes of social media users towards Snapchat. In addition, the features of Snapchat that people frequently use and the contents shared by Snapchat users are also inspected. Finally, the personality traits of users and non-users of Snapchat are analysed by utilizing Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Narcissism scales. It is found that coolness and documentation are the motivations that affect attitudes towards using Snapchat. Moreover, it is revealed that overall using Snapchat is perceived as fun but at the same time just as a fad. In terms of the content shared on Snapchat, it is observed that people who have high levels of narcissism share selfies more than other people. Finally, it is found that extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness traits have positive effects over usage of Snapchat.
