The Digital Culture Recent Users’ Online Behaviour and Interactivity in Social Media

How and why do people use social media today, as opposed to six years ago? Over the years, there have been many researchers, who through their studies, have tried to investigate and understand the relationship between users and social media, since due to the development of the Web into an online platform that facilitates its users’ participation, communication and engagement, users have the opportunity to participate actively in this digital environment, by not only consuming content, but also by producing it. Due to social media’s continuously evolving features and structures, users are able to generate and disseminate content with other users all over the world, and connect with people who share similar goals, ideals, interests, or even personalities. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, as well as various online blogs and forums, have formed an expansive ecosystem of connective media, and have influenced human interaction on an individual, community and even a larger societal level, allowing for the increasing interpenetration of the online and offline world. Tracking the digital culture and user interactivity leads to a particular user typology, which is characterized by the usage patterns that reflect certain types of user participation in social media. Research indicates that personality traits are highly related to social media usage, since individuals take particular actions in these online environments depending on their interpersonal characteristics. Consequently, the recent socio-technographics ladder typology distribution of digital interactivity based on users’ reported behaviour and personality traits suggests an alteration since 2012, since more people participate actively on social media, and have now turned from “passive recipients” of digital content, to active contributors of the online participatory culture. Specifically, the particular research indicates that personality traits affect heavily users’ online and digital behaviour, as social media users in 2018, have become increasingly involved in more variety of activities on social media, and therefore, create and circulate more content since 2012.