Creating and sharing content in digital environments has become easier with the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 (Creighton, 2012; Hiremath and Kenchakkanavar, 2016; Lomicka and Lord, 2016; Hackl et al., 2022; Lin, 2023). While it was previously necessary to possess knowledge and expertise to produce content and share it in the digital environment, today, there is no longer a need for a high level of technological or digital literacy to do so (Pangrazio and Sefton-Green, 2021). The produced content attracts more attention when it is posted on social media platforms. Any subject/phenomenon that attracts relatively more individuals is instantly shared with the whole world via social media, finds countless sharers, and is discussed (Tellis et al., 2019; Talwar et al., 2020). This can be attributed to the increase in ownership of smartphones (95.9%) and the easy availability of mobile internet connection (We Are Social, 2023). The same report also states that individuals spend 6 h and 37 min on the internet daily, with 2 h and 31 min of that time being spent on social media. According to Similarweb (2023), the majority of the 20 most popular websites worldwide are social media platforms. Individuals now aspire to be present and post on social media all the time. A life without social media is unimaginable for many (Singh et al., 2019). While the concepts of time and space are being transformed with the digital environment, the line between the watcher and the watched has disappeared, and the individual has become both a watcher and watched (Uluç and Yarcı, 2017; Georgakopoulou, 2021; Oguafor and Nevzat, 2023). One-day posts (stories, statuses) facilitate the use of social networks and enable users to create interesting content based on recent updates rather than events from the past (Davidson-Wall, 2018; Maares et al., 2021). After a point, this situation becomes problematic. Posts where ethical concerns are not at the forefront are now shared on social media. That The social media blurs the boundaries between presence and absence, time and space (Kelly, 2016; Finkler, 2023), control and freedom (Baym and Boyd, 2012; Trepte, 2021), personal and mass communication, private and public (Tombul and Sarı, 2021; Sun et al., 2022), and virtual and real (Floridi, 2014; Levin and Mamlok, 2021). It can be said that this situation makes it easier for individuals to share information that they are hesitant to share in real life, therefore eroding the meaning of privacy and private information (Budak, 2018; Chattopadhyay et al., 2021). Images of people under risk or threat are recorded and shared on social media in different instances, such as parents sharing posts about their children freely (Fox and Hoy, 2019; Verswijvel et al., 2019; Ranzini et al., 2020).

By and large, there are various reasons why individuals use the Internet. Subject to change with the content of the accessed websites, the purpose of Internet use can be online communication and socialization with the social circle (Bilgin, 2018), accessing information (Kwon and Wen, 2010; Hazar, 2011; Park and Kim, 2013; Firth et al., 2019), and entertainment (Ryan et al., 2014; Çömlekçi and Başol, 2019) As for social media platforms, the reasons of entertainment and personal gratification stand out (Dunne et al., 2010; Papacharissi and Mendelson, 2011; Ibáñez-Sánchez et al., 2022). According to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report by We Are Social, among the purposes of using social media are keeping up with the current news and events, finding entertaining content, killing time, keeping up with friends’ lives, and posting (photos, videos, etc.) (We Are Social, 2023). Thanks to online communication channels such as social media platforms, the formation of a relationship between individuals is facilitated, shyness is overcome, and the need for social belonging is met (Young et al., 2017; Moretta and Buodo, 2020). By sharing statuses and photos on social media, individuals promote themselves and meet the need for self-promotion and self-expression (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015; Tifferet and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2018; Taylor, 2020). It can thus be said that the use of social media by individuals is somewhat related to the desire for gratification and enjoyment (Gan, 2017; Zafar et al., 2020; Scherr and Wang, 2021; Vaterlaus and Winter, 2021). Five different categories related to gratification and enjoyment stand out in the literature (Figure 1).

As seen in Figure 1, socialization or social interaction, entertainment, information sharing, desire to achieve status, and killing time can be listed among the reasons for using social media. Dunne et al. (2010) stated that the primary reason for individuals to use social media is to fulfill the need for socializing. Individuals of all ages use social media platforms actively in order to maintain or expand their friendship networks and to gather or share information (Duggan et al., 2015; Spottswood and Wohn, 2020). The fact that humans are social beings is the underlying reason for socialization and social interaction. Individuals seek to satisfy their need for belonging and interaction with others by chatting and establishing relationships with them (Whiting and Williams, 2013; Alutaybi et al., 2020). Individuals also wonder what their friends do to socialize. Of social media users, 47.6% are curious about and check out what their friends are doing through social media platforms (We Are Social, 2023). Individuals who use social media for entertainment purposes want to enjoy the moment and relieve their day-to-day concerns (Ma et al., 2011; Brailovskaia et al., 2020; Pelletier et al., 2020; Raza et al., 2020). According to a report by We Are Social (2021), the rate of those who use social media to browse through entertaining content is 35%. In terms of information sharing, social media is interactive and allows users to share information via a two-way dialogue (Whiting and Williams, 2013; Aichner et al., 2021). According to a report by We Are Social (2021), the rate of those who use social media for sharing posts is 27.9%. Status-seeking gratification refers to the desire to be correct, therefore strengthening own feelings and morals (Thompson et al., 2019). By sharing posts on social media, individuals contribute to it. When other members of the platform approve of the contribution to the pool of information, it creates the perception of enhancement of the sharer’s social status (Cheung et al., 2011; Verduyn et al., 2020). Among the prominent functions of social media are self-promotion, willingly revealing personal information, and the aspiration to share a much more positive and ideal representation of one’s life (Błachnio et al., 2013; Lupton, 2021; Ugwudike et al., 2023). The pass-time gratification is defined as using social media to kill time and relieve boredom (Whiting and Williams, 2013; Whelan et al., 2020). According to We Are Social (2023), the rate of those who use social media to pass time is 36.3%. Approving or sharing content on social media is about passing leisure time (Kırcaburun et al., 2020). Accordingly, this study aims to determine the sociological and psychological reasons why people record dangerous occurrences where they or other people are under risk or threat and post these recordings on social media. Accordingly, this study aims to answer the following research questions:

This study consists of seven sections. In the following section, the background of the culture of posting on social media will be presented. The third section describes the methodology through which the review processes were conducted. The fourth section presents the results, followed by the fifth section which reports on the research questions’ results. The sixth section presents a discussion of the review, and its conclusion. Finally, the last section presents suggestions to further studies.

The participants were asked five questions as a part of the study, which investigates the sociological and psychological reasons behind individuals’ urge to post on social media while they or others are under risk or threat. These five questions are (a) Why do people use social media; (b) Why do people post on social media; (c) What types of posts do people share on social media; (d) What are the possible psychological reasons that push people to share such occurrences on social media and (e) Why do individuals feel the need to record and share dangerous occurrences while under risk or danger? According to content analysis, data has been presented in tables as codes, themes, and subthemes. When moving from codes to subthemes, a path is followed from general to specific. This is also explained in Figure 2. In this section, the findings obtained from the answers were addressed along with the respective questions.

Different themes and sub-themes were identified in this study, in which the socio-psychological reasons why individuals record and post the moment when they or other people are under risk or threat (Figure 3).

Figure 3 has been organized as a project map in the Nvivo program. The project map is a comprehensive visual aid that assists in discovering the relationships that emerge from the analysis of the data obtained from the study (Mortelmans, 2019). The themes of the purposes of individuals’ social media use can be summarized as communication, intimidation, commercial, information sharing, presence, and interaction. As social beings, humans use social media for communication and interaction. It was stated that social media, which supports participatory communication, is used to express oneself and establish relationships (Sihombing, 2018; Thomas et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2021). People can find their old friends on social media platforms, get in touch with people, follow people they know or do not know, and keep up with the latest developments. Social media platforms are used to inform friends about daily experiences, follow other users’ updates, and participate in long public conversations in discussion groups (Sarmiento et al., 2018). Brailovskaia et al. (2020) also list the purposes of using social media as (a) Search for Information and Inspiration; (b) Search for Social Interaction; (c) Beat of Boredom and Pastimes; (d) Escape from Negative Emotions and (e) Search for Positive Emotions. On the other hand, individuals can share various posts in order to intimidate others, too. Such posts usually do not reflect the truth. Social media can also be used for commercial purposes, as it allows to reach out to many people in a short time. These platforms can also be used to share experiences. There are various studies in the literature on uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al., 1974) that aim to understand the reasons why people use certain media platforms. Introne et al. (2018) stated that some of the gratifications that people attain from the use of social media are related to seeking information, sharing knowledge, entertainment, and communication. Seeking information, maintaining relationships, and gaining peer approval are associated with social media use (Dunne et al., 2010; Vaast and Kaganer, 2013; Nesi et al., 2018; Capone et al., 2020; Liu, 2020; Soroya et al., 2021). Also, it can be said that sharing news and information are other sources of gratification attained from using social media (Thompson et al., 2019). It was stated that people use these platforms in order to have fun and pass time, which is a phenomenon that is not among the findings of the study but has been mentioned (Ha et al., 2013; Kolhar et al., 2021). Social media platforms are also used to relax and escape from reality (Lee et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2015; Young et al., 2017).

The reasons for sharing posts on social media can be listed as the need to be noticed, the desire to not miss out on the moment, the wish to say “me too,” social media offering a comfortable environment, the desire to tell a story, responsibility, and extrinsic motivation. Individuals’ desire to be noticed is not limited to the physical environment, they also try to manifest themselves through their posts on social media. This is why they share posts on social media platforms. Also stated that social interaction and connection, as well as self-promotion, are among the main reasons for the use of social networks such as Facebook (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015; Hajli et al., 2017; Sheldon and Newman, 2019; Sheldon et al., 2021; Ibáñez-Sánchez et al., 2022). The urge not to miss out on the moment is another prominent reason. Individuals use these platforms in order to show others what they are doing and to see what others are doing. They share posts because social media platforms offer a medium where they can freely express their opinions and say “me too”; want to announce what they do and show their life stories to other people on these platforms. Maitri et al. (2023) state that social media allows individuals to express their views and thoughts freely and that their expressions can reach a wide audience. In some cases, however, individuals, due to extrinsic pressure or the motivation to inform the relevant authorities, may post certain incidents, acting upon their sense of responsibility. Recent research has revealed that when sharing information, individuals do not mind if it is true or not as far as it contains precautionary measures on certain issues (Apuke and Omar, 2020). Another purpose of posting on social media is to act upon extrinsic motivation such as getting likes, gaining followers, or earning money.

People share different types of posts on social media. While some share posts about their personal lives and what they have been up to, some share posts that give the appearance of a perfect life. However, the background of the promoted perfect life is also important. The information presented on social media consists mainly of carefully selected photos intended to portray a flawless self-image and an ideal life (Appel et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2017; Schmuck et al., 2019). The viewership rate of more realistic posts rather than idealized lives is also high on social media (Fardouly and Rapee, 2019). However, users continue to have concerns about editing their photos to appear different from their actual selves. There is another group of users that post informative content. In addition to people who share their own experiences, there are also people who share academic posts. Kwahk and Park (2016) stated that since social media environments facilitate the sharing of information and its dissemination between communities and societies, there is an increase in information sharing. Social networking sites also support the dissemination of information by creating a collaborative environment (Ansari and Khan, 2020), and researchers have begun to utilize social media in sharing information because it facilitates information sharing in different contexts (Al Saifi et al., 2016; Bilgihan et al., 2016; Ahmed et al., 2019). Supporting the findings of the study, it was previously stated that individuals who want to keep their social interactions strong are more likely to disclose information as well as share news, including false ones (Apuke and Omar, 2020). In addition, the sharing of fake news or misinformation is also quite common on social media (Talwar et al., 2019; Islam et al., 2020; Mena, 2020; Apuke and Omar, 2021). However, this phenomenon did not emerge in the study results.

The socio-psychological impact of social media takes into account both social and psychological factors responsible for the changes in the behavior, thoughts, and emotions of young individuals influenced by the real or imaginary presence of others on social media (Afsana, 2020). The socio-psychological reasons why people post on social media are being able to say “it’s me,” the sense of responsibility, and need. Social media platforms are environments where individuals introduce themselves and do so by utilizing their individual capabilities (Thompson et al., 2019; Apuke and Omar, 2021). People sometimes want to be the first to share a post on a certain topic on social media. Or they may try to get the message “I’m here, too” across. Sometimes, individuals may share posts due to the responsibility of alerting the relevant authorities. The most important socio-psychological reasons are that individuals feel the need to belong to the majority, be heard, stay up to date, be deemed important, and relax. To meet these needs, individuals share posts on social media. People with a high motivation to seek status, socialize, and seek information post more frequently on social media (Lee and Ma, 2012; Chen et al., 2018; Islam et al., 2020; Malik et al., 2021). However, individuals find it fun to disseminate information online, to exchange information with others within the confines of a social relationship (Anspach and Carlson, 2020; Oliveira et al., 2020).

Individuals share posts when they or others are under risk or threat, too. Among the reasons for this situation are as seeking help, raising awareness, attention-seeking, collecting evidence, documentation, narcissism, a sense of mission, isolation, escaping, and security. People can record and share incidents for the purpose of asking the authorities for help and to document the incident and gather evidence to submit to the relevant authorities. Some incidents may be underpublicized. In such cases, social media posts may help to raise awareness about those occurrences. As stated by Plume and Slade (2018), individuals may act upon their instinct of spreading news and information, without expecting a reward for their sharing. Al-Rawi (2019) and Weeks and Holbert (2013) also found that people are more likely to share content if it is interesting, useful or emotionally engaging. Apuke and Omar (2021) and Ma and Chan (2014) also argued that some social media users may voluntarily collect and disseminate information without expecting any return. Duffy et al. (2020) state that sharing news on social media is seen as contributing to social integration, and users who engage in this behavior are motivated by the emotional impact of the news, the potential interest for the recipient, and the sender’s intention to provide “recommendation or warning.” While sharing news on social media can build or strengthen relationships, sharing fake news can undermine them. Posts are also shared in order to be the first to announce the incident and increase the number of followers, that is, to attract the attention of other social media users. The number of likes or followers obtained on social media is considered an important personal metric (De Cristofaro et al., 2014). However, attention should also be paid to the following point. If a high number of likes or followers are seen in social media posts, this may also indicate that followers or likes have been purchased (De Vries, 2019). While the number of likes and followers is important, such situations may also occur. These are cases where some make it their mission to record and post the event. Another important finding is the instinct of isolation by putting a device in between the incident and the self, witnessing what is happening as if watching it from social media or traditional media outlets. In order to avoid taking responsibility for solving problems or helping, people tend to record and post images of the moment rather than intervening. During and after risky and dangerous occurrences, individuals also look to protect themselves and ensure their safety. Due to such reasons, more and more images and information from these incidents that should actually remain undisclosed are revealed in the social media environment.

This study has certain limitations. The participants in this study, which investigates the social and psychological reasons behind social media postings, consist of six individuals from three different fields of expertise. Diversifying the fields of expertise may eliminate the limitations of the study in order to access different types of information. Another limitation is the inability to directly access social media users who post under risk and threat.

Some findings of this study can serve as a guide for future studies. In the literature, there are many data on the purposes for which social media is used [such as sharing stories, fake news or misinformation (Apuke and Omar, 2020, 2021; Duffy et al., 2020; Sihombing and Aninda, 2022; Annabell, 2023; Talwar et.al, 2020)]. However, there are no psychological studies addressing the background of the reasons for why people record dangerous occurrences where they or other people are under risk or threat and post these recordings on social media. This study features expert opinions that can shed light on this subject. In order to support these views and reveal the associated psychological factors, long-term studies can be conducted with the participation of individuals who share posts on social media. Posting on social media should be considered normal. However, the reasons why individuals post when they or others are under risk or threat, which was the main focal point of this study, should be further examined. The researcher considered contacting people who were eyewitnesses of certain incidents and recorded them instead of intervening, such as a person who filmed a femicide and shared it on social media, risked their own life like a war reporter to record and post a gunfight, and filmed their livestock during a forest fire instead of saving them and posting the footage with the caption “my babies, my dears,” and so on. However, these people could not be reached. Studies can be conducted where such people are interviewed to reveal their sociological characteristics as well as their psychological states when they posted the incidents.

The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because of confidentiality. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to FY, f.yaman@alparslan.edu.tr.

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent from the participants was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.