The present research explores the effects of imagined audiences, emotions, and feedback expectations on social media photo sharing. We focus on the audience-oriented approach to sharing and on how discrepancies between expected and received feedback might shape photo sharing behaviors. Twenty-four participants were interviewed using scenario-based semi-structured interview method. The participants were asked to develop an imagined story about two fictional individuals who decided to share a photo on their social media. The story was guided by questions about the characters’ motivations and incentives to post and explored three alternative scenarios representing the reception of usual feedback, better than usual feedback, and the absence of expected feedback, respectively. The results indicate that individuals often adopt their audience’s perspective when choosing a photo to post, and consider whether the chosen image would evoke sufficient interest to induce feedback. The participants believed that emotional photos engaged their audience and motivated the viewers to provide feedback. Furthermore, the study identified and analyzed the concept of feedback expectations. When received feedback exceeded the expectations, individuals experienced happiness. However, the replication of successful content was considered appropriate only if accompanied by a suitable caption and posted after a period of time. When received feedback failed to meet their expectations, individuals felt disconnected from their audiences and experienced disappointment. They employed rationalization and feedback dismissal as coping mechanisms and displayed two common behavioral responses to unsuccessful feedback; they attempted to repost the photo avoiding previous mistakes, and they changed the style of content they posted.

本研究探讨了想象中的观众、情绪和反馈期望对社交媒体照片共享的影响。我们专注于以受众为导向的分享方法，以及预期和收到的反馈之间的差异如何影响照片分享行为。使用基于情景的半结构化访谈方法对 24 名参与者进行了访谈。参与者被要求开发一个关于两个虚构人物的想象故事，他们决定在他们的社交媒体上分享一张照片。故事以关于角色发布动机和动机的问题为指导，并探索了三种替代方案，分别代表收到通常的反馈、比通常的反馈更好和没有预期的反馈。结果表明，个人在选择要发布的照片​​时通常会采用观众的观点，并考虑所选图像是否会引起足够的兴趣以引起反馈。参与者认为，情感照片吸引了观众并激励观众提供反馈。此外，该研究确定并分析了反馈期望的概念。当收到的反馈超出预期时，个人会感到幸福。但是，成功内容的复制只有在附有合适的标题并在一段时间后发布时才被认为是合适的。当收到的反馈未能达到他们的期望时，个人会感到与观众脱节并感到失望。他们采用合理化和反馈驳回作为应对机制，并对不成功的反馈表现出两种常见的行为反应；他们试图重新发布照片以避免之前的错误，并且他们改变了他们发布的内容风格。