Keywords
psychological reasons
social and cultural reasons
privacy and security reasons
social media
How to Cite
Abstract
This study investigates the most common reasons Jordanian users adopt nicknames on social media, focusing on the influence of three key factors: psychological, social and privacy. It also explores how nickname use relates to users' educational background, examines whether cultural differences exist between Jordanians and non-Jordanians, and identifies any significant gender differences in this practice. Data were collected through a Google Form questionnaire completed by 150 participants, comprising 100 Jordanians and 50 non-Jordanian social media users. These participants were drawn from two universities and two secondary schools in Jordan using a non-probability purposive sampling procedure. The results showed that privacy and security recorded the highest mean and percentage among Jordanian users, suggesting these concerns are the dominant motivation. School students were more motivated to use nicknames than university students, indicating that age and educational level shape this behaviour. Cultural factors also played a role, with non-Jordanian users scoring higher than Jordanian users. In terms of gender, male users scored higher than female users. The findings suggest that nickname use on social media is a pervasive phenomenon, with several reasons working in tandem.
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