Social Media for Older Adults

Subjective Social Capital and Loneliness for the Elderly: The Moderator Role of Line and Facebook Use (Work accepted to Social Media + Society)

The Problem Social media has become a vital source of communication for older adults, but its impact is still an ongoing debate. This study investigated the moderating effect of Line and Facebook use on social capital and loneliness in older adults, aged 55 or more, using data obtained from the 2018 Taiwan Communication Survey (TCS). Research methods Secondary data analysis using binary logistic regression Key Insights

• Older adult users of Line have a lower possibility of being lonely than those who do not use Line.

• Line could be a form of social media that has a positive effect on the relationship between social capital and loneliness.

• Facebook does not have such a moderation effect.
  

Collaborators Dr. Hsiu-Ping Yueh (research advisor), Dr. Shih Hsien Hsu (research advisor) Roles Researcher, statistician. Skills Statistics Reflection This research was my first research project in my master's. It was hard for me to formulate a research question and statistics based on what is there (secondary data). I managed to overcome the process by being flexible in finding suitable questions for this database. I am grateful for my professors and friends for helping and teaching me to frame and find the results for the research questions. This project taught me how to form research questions and work with numbers.