Anxiety in Immersive World: A Self-Presentational Perspective of Facebook Use

The purpose of this chapter is to theorize social anxiety as an inhibitor of socially interactive Facebook use. This chapter identifies different types of Facebook use based on the extent of social interaction involved. They are socially passive use, social interaction feature, and game feature use. Further, borrowing from self-presentational perspective of social anxiety, it proposes a conceptual framework that explains the role of social anxiety in each type of Facebook use. The study proposes that while social anxiety does not influence socially passive Facebook use, it could be a significant inhibitor of social interaction feature and game feature use. The paper also posits that the level of social anxiety experienced in game features might be higher as compared to that of social interaction features. The paper also highlights the role of a self-assessment process that mediates social anxiety and resulting Facebook use. This paper has significant research implications as it invites future researchers to examine the role of social anxiety in Facebook use more diligently by considering the extent of social interactivity involved in each use type.