From Caterpillar to Butterfly: Social Media Engagement of the Socially Excluded Third-Gender People in Bangladesh

Third-gender people are neither men nor women (Khan et al., 2009), even though they may be born as either. However, during adolescence, their physical gestures and behavioural patterns start becoming opposite to the gender they got at birth, e.g., men start becoming feminine. In South Asian countries, specifically Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, their families force and torture them to act 'normal' as heterosexuals and eventually compel them to leave home to avoid social embarrassment of the family (Knight, 2016). At the same time, the educational institutions undermine and mock them and force them to drop out (Arumai et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2009; Shahid, 2021). Eventually, they take shelter in 'Dera'³ with same-kind people. Through a cultural adoption ritual (called 'Achla'), a TG person becomes a disciple ('chela') of a 'guru'⁴ (Knight, 2016) and starts a new life as a hijra where the guru forces them to earn money through either 'badhai'⁵ and/or sex work in exchange for food, shelter and security (Abdullah et al., 2012; Arumai et al., 2014).

“Hijras are one of Asia's most vulnerable and impoverished populations” (Al-Mamun et al., 2022, p. 2). In a conservative society (e.g., Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India), steeped in traditional orthodox values, accepting and protecting the rights of the gender-diverse population is remaining as an 'area of darkness' (Khan et al., 2009; Knight, 2016). Even though the constitution of many South Asian countries officially recognises the TGC, their fundamental human rights are still denied in practice (Knight, 2016). For example, in India, hijras are highly discriminated against and often excluded from employment, housing, and health care services while they face severe violence (Arora, 2019). Similarly, genders other than male–female are still considered a sensitive topic in China under the ‘three-No policy’ (i.e., 'No support', 'No prohibition', and 'No promotion') (Wu et al., 2018). The third gender is not supported by Chinese traditional culture, where the government and law maintain an official silence on their rights (Luhur et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2018). They suffer discrimination in employment and education (Luhur et al., 2021). For a summary of the legal and societal acceptance of the third gender in South Asian countries, see Table 1. It summarises that the TGC is socially excluded in South Asia (Amundsen, 2018) and is overtly discriminated, harassed and often tortured (Arumai et al., 2014; Badgett, 2014). For generations, these "people have been subject to institutional and social discrimination, and to violence based on their sexuality, gender identity and gender expression" (UNDP, 2015, p. 7). Consequently, people belonging to the outside binary group often avoid exposing their gender identity. However, literature is scarce explaining how emerging digital technologies in general and social media in particular, assist some of these communities to express their gender identity and get social interaction and support.

Traditional digital media are predominantly push media, where the sender broadcasts the message to the recipients. With the introduction of the Internet, people started explicating themselves and publishing, e.g., on websites. However, websites are unidirectional, asynchronous, and relatively less engaging. Later, Web 2.0 enhanced it with two-way conversation (e.g., Blogs) where reciprocity was the key (Courtois et al., 2009; Throuvala et al., 2019). Still, the communication was quite passive. More recently, social media have empowered people even more – anyone can join a platform to publish stories and multimedia and get reactions shortly. Contrary to tradition media, social media permit two-way communication, and the conversation may grow (Hasa, 2020; Hausman, 2020; Lawlor, 2018).

Social media also differ from other digital media, e.g., Blogging, though both allow people to share their opinions and thoughts. Social media is immediate, while the others (e.g., Blogs) are delayed in disseminating news/information and getting reaction regarding it (Lawlor, 2018). Relatedly, social media is real-time creation, whereas Blogs or websites can be scheduled (Johnson, 2021). Further, social media are generally more personality-centred, while blogs are topic-centred and better suited for long posts (Guberti, 2013). In addition, because of the ripple effect, social media content can reach a larger audience (i.e., viral, “reach-ness”) with active engagement of the users. Finally, social media are considered easy to use, more enjoyable than other digital media, and permit more active engagement (Johnson, 2021).

Although most societies understand gender options as binary, several countries recognise them as more varied and allow people to select 'other' in identity documents (e.g., passport). Alike, "Today, the internet has provided a platform where people can explore common experiences with gender diversity" (Gender Rights, 2020). Social media, too accept marginalised people and gender diversity (Vassilakopoulou & Hustad, 2023). For example, Facebook provides as many as 50 options for users who do not identify as male or female (e.g., agender, gender-questioning) (Steinmetz, 2014). Similarly, Twitter and Instagram offer space for the TGP to share their stories through hashtags, including #translookslikethis and #NonbinaryIsntWhite (Wortham, 2018). Thus, social media platforms are becoming a new digital world where atypical ideas, identities and habitats can live in parallel (Wortham, 2018).

There are limited studies on the social media use behaviour of gender-diverse users. Such research deserves more scholarly attention as social media addiction is prevalent among the socially excluded and mentally depressed users (Baams et al., 2015). The few studies share one common aspect, i.e., how non-binary gender groups use social media to live like their heterosexual counterparts (Tuah & Mazlan, 2020). Studies suggest that, due to the anonymity and opportunity to control self-presentation, social media provide a relatively safe environment for LGBT communities (e.g., Craig et al., 2021). This is reiterated by Han et al. (2019) who demonstrate that, based on the recent developments in Internet and digital communications, social media networks provide positive and supportive platforms for LGBT communities. Studies inform us that these people use social media to meet others, seek information (Adkins et al., 2018), socialise (Craig et al., 2021), get mental support, and manage their identity (Hillier & Harrison, 2007; Hillier et al., 2012). They also consider social media as a tool to express themselves (Brammer, 2017), reduce stigma, accrue social capital (Cserni & Talmud, 2015), and seeking friendship, romance, and sex (Chow et al., 2017). Alternatively, they can ‘block’ specific people who behave disrespectfully, which they cannot practice offline (Craig et al., 2021; Hanckel, 2019).

On a different note, Blackwell et al. (2016) highlight that LGBT parents use social media to evaluate their safety concerning others in their social network and manage their relatives' privacy. Soriano (2014) demonstrate how the LGBT communities in the Philippines congregate on social media to fight for social and political inclusion. A similar finding has been reported by Yang (2019), where the platforms are used to enlighten the public about LGBT rights making meaningful impacts in society.

Escobar-Viera et al. (2020) understand that the higher rates of depression, psychological distress, social and political discrimination, harassment, and victimisation drive TGC to use social media. In other words, TGC “identify significant benefits from engagement with social media, as well as other Internet-enabled technologies” (Craig et al., 2021, p. 2). Their higher depression leads to high social media use (which may lead to addiction) (Han et al., 2019). Yet, there are limited studies on the effects of social media use, e.g., on overall wellbeing and quality of life of TGC. These issues deserve more scholarly attention as social media use is becoming prevalent among TGC (Baams et al., 2015). Further, social media literature deserves more conceptual and empirical studies comparing the use of social media between BGC and TGC (Escobar-Viera et al., 2020).

While most people engage on social media for socialisation (Dolan et al., 2019) and enjoyment (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018), the incentives vary. UGT assumes that media users are active and goal-oriented; they satisfy gratifications using a specific medium. Katz et al. (1973) identify that people use mass media for four reasons: surveillance, personal identity, social relationships, and escapism. Over the past years, the proponents of UGT have identified different gratifications obtained from media use (Li et al., 2015). The high-level gratifications include psychosocial gratifications (Leung & Wei, 2000) e.g., self-presentation, social gratifications (e.g., Krasnova et al., 2017), and hedonic and utilitarian gratifications (e.g., Hossain et al., 2019; Li et al., 2015). The literature review of UGT on social media by Athwal et al. (2019) summarises social media users' drivers as cognitive, emotive, social, and habitual needs. Based on Katz et al. (1973), Athwal et al. (2019) and the literature on LGBT use of social media (Sect. 2.3), we identify four antecedents of social media engagement: (personal) identity management, social interaction, emotional reassurance, and habitual need.

UGT is a comprehensive theory answering why people use media and what media offer to people. Specific to social media, different individual-level outcomes have been reported (Kapoor et al., 2018), including personal performance (Dhir et al., 2019), life satisfaction (Ponnusamy et al., 2020), and quality of life (Krishnan & Zhou, 2019). “However, it is unclear whether psychological dependency on social media and social media use behaviour have beneficial offline effects” (Han et al., 2019, p. 91). Nonetheless, Cannon et al. (2017) recommend that “social media represents a phenomenon that may have an empowering impact on LGBT communities” (p. 71–72). Based on extant studies, we investigate two higher-level outcomes of SMEn, including social self-esteem and quality of life.

For reliability, our measures are based on previously developed and applied indicators. However, as the measures used in previous social media studies do not necessarily fit the third-gender context, we have contextualised the measures by running a focus group discussion (FGD) session with 23 TGP. In the FGD session, the social media drivers and outcomes for TGC were discussed. The session ran for around 75 min in Dhaka, Bangladesh. TGP participants were given an incentive of Tk. 500.00 (Bangladeshi currency- approximately US$7) is considered reasonable in the context of TGP's financial situation in Bangladesh.

Next, the measures that capture both the binary- and third-gender social media users were reviewed by a convenient sample of three academics (working in IS field) and two social media experts. The experts reviewed the items to ensure consistency, ease of understanding, sources of potential bias, and, most importantly, relevance to the context. In this process, we checked the content validity of the items, applying derivate of Q-Methodology (Van Exel & De Graaf, 2005) and item matrix vs. construct rating (MacKenzie et al., 2011). We grouped and placed the items horizontally, and the columns represented the constructs. All the respondents correctly allocated the item groups to their respective constructs (except three items), which expressed the adequacy of the content validity of the items. Before deleting the three items, we had a one-on-one session with experts to ensure content validity. We initially adopted five factors from Han et al. (2018) to measure emotional reassurance. However, the fifth item (“Using social media enables me to feel I am part of my social media communities”) was deleted because the FGD participants did not relate this item with emotional reassurance. Applying the same approach, “I would be sorry if social media shut down” has been deleted from habitual need scale. Finally, perceived quality of life has been adapted from Kim (2018)’s satisfaction with life and Akter et al. (2010)’s quality of health life scales. However, one item (“If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing”) was deleted because the IS experts found it not common in both scales and for its relatively low mean and high standard deviation values in the source scale (see Kim, 2018). The experts additionally suggested minor improvements to the wording of the items, and those suggestions were incorporated.

All items for these measures (except social media engagement) were rated on five-point Likert scales anchored from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'. Social media engagement measures provided different options for each item (see Appendix A). Following acceptable translation practices (Lee et al., 2009), the survey instrument was first translated from English to the local language (Bangla) and translated back to English by a second individual. Discrepancies were discussed, and a resolution was reached among the authors.

During the data collection stage, we have employed two separate surveys to gauge the perceptions of the BG and TG users. In both cases, the eligibility criteria for participation was to use at least one social medium.

Given the hard-to-reach TGP communities, we have applied a combination of purposive and snowball sampling for data collection. Initially, the authors have reached out to the participants of the FGD (mentioned in Sect. 4.1) and asked them to participate in the survey. This approach is time- and cost-effective and often used in research with difficult-to-access samples (Spring et al., 2003). In a later stage, we have adopted snowballing sampling, commonly used in research when investigating hard-to-reach groups (Dusek et al., 2015) and in non-heterosexual contexts (Browne, 2005). As the TGC is very distinct and isolated, and they only know the others in the same communities, the existing respondents have been asked to nominate further respondents known to them. The first survey has been administered with a paper-based, Bangla version questionnaire to gauge the perception of the TGC in Bangladesh. This has been conducted by five carefully recruited TG representatives who surveyed in-person with TG respondents. The five data collectors have been recruited based on their leadership, engagement with and popularity among the TGC in Bangladesh. This technique has been applied believing the TG data collectors would be more trustworthy to the TG respondents. By deploying TG data collectors, this research also has overcome the barrier of limited educational background of some TG respondents, who needed additional explanation from someone more familiar to them. Both the respondents and the interviewers have been given nominal financial incentives.

The second phase of the survey aimed to measure the perceptions of heterosexual users. The survey for this phase has been conducted using six Facebook groups related to community development and human rights, run by people from Bangladesh. These groups have been considered appropriate in the context of this study. In this phase of the survey, we have contacted the admins of the respective group and explained the survey's objectives. Once agreed, the admins have uploaded the survey link to their respective Facebook groups. Irrespective of gender, anyone could attend the survey. However, answers from respondents who answered ‘other’ to the question "what is your gender?" have been added to the first survey. Eventually, we have received 167 and 225 valid responses from the first and second surveys, respectively. It is observed that more than 50% of the respondents in the TGP sample did not receive education after high school, whereas 45% of heterosexual respondents received higher education. Similarly, around 70% of TGPs have used social media only for nine years. The demography of the respondents is provided in Appendix Table three.

To minimise common method bias (CMB), we have applied several procedural and statistical remedies following (Hulland et al., 2018). The results (see Appendix C) suggest that CMB was negligible in this study. To reduce social desirability bias (SDB), we have applied the principles of Larson (2019). In the participant consent form (PCF) supplied/loaded before the survey, the respondents have been assured that their responses would be anonymous, kept completely confidential, and used in an aggregated manner. On the first page of PCF, all respondents had to check the “I understand” radio-button before proceeding to the questionnaire. In PCF, we also have included a statement encouraging and appreciating respondents’ honesty (Larson, 2019). These two efforts have been made to make the respondents less likely to respond in a socially desirable way (Chan et al., 2019).

This paper aims to explore how the antecedents and consequents for SMEn vary between BG and TG users. The results obtained from SEM-PLS confirm the hypotheses except for one. Overall, the findings align with the existing limited literature on the current context (e.g., Escobar-Viera et al., 2018, 2020; Han et al., 2019).

The results generally show that identity management is a driver of SMEn, which supports H1a and is consistent with extant studies (e.g., Carrasco & Kerne, 2018; DiMicco & Millen, 2007). Further investigation shows that such a relationship is valid only for the TG sample, which is plausible and supports our H1b. This is interesting and valuable. Past studies (e.g., Kaiser et al., 2021; Owens, 2017) have found that non-heterosexual communities (e.g., LGBT) use social media to manage their self-identity and celebrate and reaffirm their sexual identity, which is not the case for heterosexual users. Similarly, recent studies (e.g., Craig et al., 2021) suggest that identity expression is an important incentive for using social media by TGC. More specifically, compared to heterosexual users, TGC use social media more for identity expression. Our result implies that, as the TGC are minorities in any given society (e.g., Bangladesh), they encounter huge stigma, social pressure, and legal constraints to identify with their actual gender identity (Escobar-Viera et al., 2018). Thus, social media play an important role in providing them with an avenue to express and manage their identity. Alternatively, expressing and managing individual identity does not affect social media engagement for the BGC. They do not possess complexities related to their gender and therefore let society know about gender identity with different mechanisms, including conversation and mingling with partners with opposite sex (Kaiser et al., 2021).

Our second hypothesis is relating to social interaction gratification from SMEn. The total sample finds a significant positive relation; thus, our H2a is supported. This is intuitive and supported by extant literature (e.g., Khan, 2017; Zhang & Jung, 2018). It is further obtained that this relationship is stronger for the BG sample than their TG counterpart, and thus H2b is partially supported. While we understand that socialisation is a strong motivation for SMEn among TG individuals (Craig et al., 2021; Escobar-Viera et al., 2018; Owens, 2017), particularly in Bangladesh (Nova et al., 2021), the BGC use the platform even more for socialising. As BGC generally have more social networking groups on social media (than TGC), they socialise more. This is consistent with current studies (e.g., Byron et al., 2021, Escobar-Viera et al. 2020) that suggest that both LGB and non-LGB communities use social media for socialisation; yet, for the former group, this incentive is bigger, who consider social media as a ‘primary’ mode of socialising in today’s world.

The relationship between emotional reassurance and SMEn is positively and significantly related to the total sample; therefore, our H3a is supported. It implies that not only TG but also the BG i.e., all social media users8 appreciate emotional support from other users. Therefore, we conclude that emotional reassurance strongly predicts SMEn for TGC (Craig et al., 2021). Further, the relationship is stronger for the TG sample, which fully supports our hypothesis 3b.⁸ TGC – who need more emotional support than their BGC counterparts – are more engaged on social media. This is consistent with recent studies (e.g., Craig et al., 2021). Given social media's 'reach-ness' affordance, TGC can seek emotional support from the social media communities. Such support is hard for them to get from offline communities because of social, religious and other taboos. Nevertheless, on social media platforms, people “carefully manage the image they present to the world, to present themselves in a maximally positive, flattering light” (Liu & Baumeister, 2016, p. 81); they might show emotional support to the TGC which they would not usually do in offline spaces. As TGC are socially excluded and vulnerable, support from others through social media is a well-asked-for and cherished to them than to the non-TGC in predicting emotional reassurance. However, Escobar-Viera et al. (2020) warned that social media can also be contagious of negative emotions.

In support of our H4, we found that SMEn has become a habit – both for BG and TG users- supported by prior studies (e.g., Incollingo, 2018; Webb & Fulton, 2019). With a deeper look, the magnitude of the relationship is very high for the BG sample, which suggests that habitual need is more of an incentive for the BG sample than the TG counterpart. A further t statistics test shows that the two samples' relationship is statistically different (see Appendix F). Apparently, BGC is more engaged on social media out of habit or addiction (Dwivedi et al., 2018); however, for TGC, it is more necessity-driven (Escobar-Viera et al., 2020).

Regarding the consequences, SMEn increases the social self-esteem of the users (H5a), which is supported by current literature (Liu & Baumeister, 2016). It implies that despite the reported malicious consequences of social media, overall, it increases users’ self-esteem. As expected in H5b, we found that social media increases self-esteem more for the TGC than for the BG equivalent. The TGC deserve to live with a “head held high” (Knight, 2016). However, they are yet to be positioned in the greater society with human potential and dignity (Khan et al., 2009). Nevertheless, SMEn enhance their confidence, self-belief, ad respect and acceptance in society, which suggests the positive contribution of social media. Similarly, our results reveal that SMEn enhances the users' perceived quality of life and thus accepts H6a. Prior studies empirically prove this (e.g., Wheatley & Buglass, 2019), even though few studies oppose (e.g., Kross et al., 2013). Further, the influence of SMEn is stronger for TGC than the BGC sample, thus supporting H6b. Prior studies support our findings, arguing that social media enhances the wellbeing of LGBT communities (e.g., Craig et al., 2021). However, Nam (2019) do not find any influence of gender on quality of life.

This study offers three major implications for research.

First, in one research frame, this paper extends prior research on social media by understanding why people engage in social media and how social media influence people's lives. Explaining their relative effects on TG and BG samples further adds knowledge to the current literature. In general, IS studies suggest that the adoption and use of ICTs can vary with gender: male and female (e.g., Venkatesh et al., 2014). Likewise, few social media studies have identified that gender determines social media use (e.g., Krasnova et al., 2017; Nam, 2019; Su et al., 2020; Ye et al., 2018). The bulk of the existing IS studies apparently ignore that people can be classified as more than just male and female; fortunately, social media do not. Challenging the assumption of most social media studies, this study argues that the incentives and outcomes of SMEn are not uniform to the users but vary with gender diversity i.e., between BGC and TGC (Craig et al., 2021; Escobar-Viera et al., 2020). Our study encourages IS studies to focus on gender diversity i.e., beyond male and female classifications, and investigate how the associated variables affect their (existing) models, and modify where needed.

Second, Building on UGT, this study shows that different uses and gratifications affect people’s SMEn. In an environment where uses gratifications are central to social media use (Dolan et al., 2019), we believe it is important to understand how these factors affect SMEn. Moreover, we investigate if the SMEn actually increases users’ self-esteem and quality of life, which is important to understand, especially when several studies reported the ugly side of it (Dwivedi et al., 2018). More importantly, our findings describe that, from social media, this special group i.e., TGC derive more self-esteem and quality of life than their counterparts do. As many governments, especially in developing countries and international organisations, including the UN, are taking initiatives to increase the quality of life of the TGC (UN, 2018), our study is timely. It provides insights and contributes to current initiatives and debates.

Third, social media use by socially excluded TGC is a new context within which relatively few studies have been conducted. Specifically, while social media use became a current trend to the TGC (Byron et al., 2021), the underlying antecedents and consequences that make social media so appealing to users remain largely unexplored. Yet, studies consider social media a strong survival and growth tool with great potential to lessen gender discrimination. Therefore, they need support from researchers and social media architects for innovative services, which will permit them to practice more psychological, social, and economic functions e.g., workshops, training, and crowdfunding (Borst et al., 2018). Therefore, this study could serve as a starting point for understanding the social inclusion phenomenon in social media contexts.

Our study contributes to ongoing discussions on SMEn (e.g., Han et al., 2019; Khan, 2017), especially on the antecedents and consequences of it. Such research can enable researchers, social media architects, and policymakers to get insights that can help better social and individual outcomes. We discuss three main implications of our study for practice.

Our first practical implication guides social media architects who need to understand the incentives of SMEn. Primarily, this study demonstrates that identity management is critical for TGC. This implies promoting personalisation and customisation features (Hossain et al., 2021). Applying personalisation mechanisms, which are based on user behaviour, networking activities, etc., social media platforms can design these users’ profiles differently. Taking examples from personalised marketing (Schulze et al., 2014), personalised content can be directed to these users. Social media architects can also pay attention to customisability features where users can tailor their identity declarations. Social media architects can use requirement questionnaires or gamification to understand identity management better to acquire information on personalising and customising identity (Pasanen, 2016). The architects can also consider the other key factors, including emotional reassurance towards personalising users’ profiles. To recognise this special group, social media can arrange different activities concerning emotional support, including promoting third-gender speakers and designing and offering specialised training, workshops, and presentations on their physical and mental health management (Craig et al., 2021). Our implication extends Fox and Ralston (2016)’s study that specifically discusses how social media can serve as informal learning environments for LGBT individuals, particularly during the formative stages of their evolving gender identity. Addressing such major incentives for these users may ensure better user experiences leading to improved loyalty to social media platforms.

Our second practical implication is based on the results related to the consequence of SMEn, which reiterates the importance of social media use to enhance the personal lives of socially excluded people (Byron et al., 2021; Tuah & Mazlan, 2020). Our finding may help guide conversations between TGC representatives and experts, social media architects, and professionals regarding how social media can further contribute. Social media platforms can plan to incorporate gender-diversified features that potentially give more options for a better life for socially excluded people. For instance, providing a separate platform⁹ within social media platforms to support these people's needs is promising. Such platforms would permit the exchange of their emotions, ideas, and aspiration, which the 'normal' societies do not appreciate. Such a different platform also could educate them about their unique physical and mental health issues. Similarly, healthcare professionals could lecture them and explain different health-related issues unique to them over social media (e.g., Fox & Ralston, 2016). In addition, psychologists can build and enhance self-esteem among these vulnerable people to contribute to society.

Third, our research has important implications for public policy. It has always been a challenge for governments in developing countries to determine how the physical and mental wellbeing of the socially excluded TGC can be enhanced. Due to social, cultural, and religious constraints, bringing them into mainstream societies is always challenging. Several governments, United Nations, the World Bank, and humanitarian organisations are working on ensuring equality of rights and quality of life of sexually non-binary people, especially in developing nations (Daize & Masnun, 2019). Our study suggests that the TGP's self-esteem and overall quality of life can be improved through SMEn, which is otherwise difficult to ensure for this population. Hence, government agencies can develop different initiatives to engage them in socio-economic and cultural activities through social media. Government initiatives can include different training programs (e.g., how to become entrepreneurs) and use them as resources than a liability for the economy (Badgett et al., 2019). Given the diversified and vibrant culture of the TGC, social media training programs can assist them in creating digital content and earning from it. At the same time, an e-commerce platform for them can be effective where they can buy and sell products outside societies do not value or appreciate.

This study has some limitations, which provide opportunities for future research. First, we have examined the social media outcomes from generic perspectives where future research can focus on specific dimensions. For instance, as the TGC, especially in developing countries, are vulnerable regarding socio-economic dimensions (Daize & Masnun, 2019), future research should examine how social media can contribute. Recently, government initiatives are often motivated by the desire to alleviate poverty (Daize & Masnun, 2019) and enhance socio-economic status and empowerment (Badgett et al., 2019). Nonetheless, few studies revealed that social media could play vital roles in increasing economic output in developed (Florida, 2010) and developing countries (Fan et al., 2021; Olanrewaju et al., 2018). Future research may examine how social media can contribute to and build an inclusive ecosystem and investigate if social media can reduce socio-economic disparities between TGC and BGC. Similarly, research explaining the process of political inclusion through social media is invaluable (Soriano, 2014).

Second, in this study, we have considered the TGC as the presentative of the socially excluded group. Although this group is a critical component of the societies, they are tiny in numbers. Other socially excluded groups, including aboriginals or people in the lowest societal group (e.g., sex workers, sweepers), especially in South-East Asian countries. It would be interesting to investigate if our results are also consistent in those user groups. Third, we have used a particular theoretical lens i.e., uses and gratification. Future work should consider alternative theoretical lenses. For instance, the outcomes of social media use can vary based on the usage pattern. Therefore, more recent theories, such as the use-diffusion model of ICT (Shih et al., 2017), demonstrates that ICTs do not offer the same outcomes to all; instead, the consequences are dependent on the variety and rate/frequency of use (i.e., limited use vs. intensive use). The outcomes of such research will offer generalisability and required modifications to suit this new context.

Fourth, although we have collected survey data from different groups at different times, our research inherits the limitations of cross-sectional research. Given that the respondents' perceptions and goals may change over time (DeVito et al., 2018) or the respondents' social media use dissipated soon after we collected the responses, longitudinal studies of longer durations, e.g., 3–5 years, will help understand the complete nature of use and impact patterns. In addition, we recruited respondents who use Facebook; future studies can replicate the model in other social media platforms and report the differences (DeVito et al., 2018).