Self-Disclosure on Instagram: A Case Study of Qatari Users

This study aimed to understand the factors that influence the level of self-disclosure of Qatari users on Instagram. The first research question examined the factors that influence their self-disclosure while the second research question aimed to investigate whether differences between Qatari male and female users exist with regard to their self-disclosure on their Instagram profile photos and bios. An online questionnaire was distributed through different social media platforms and an analysis of 250 responses was performed. The results indicated that factors that influence the level of self-disclosure of Qatari users on Instagram include the type of account, the use of the Instagram stories feature, the types of followers, having followers from the opposite sex, and being restricted by social and cultural norms. On the other hand, factors that do not significantly influence their self-disclosure include the sex of the user, the number of followers, the user’s privacy concerns, and the user’s perceived control. However, when comparing male and female users’ level of self-disclosure, particularly on their Instagram profile photos, it was found that most female users tend not to show their faces in comparison to male users. Common themes of females’ profile photos included flowers, family members, patriotic pictures, artistic pictures, or pictures of their names. As for male users, the types of profile photos varied, ranging from patriotic pictures, users’ travel destinations, football team logos, video games or cartoon characters, or an actor that resembles the user. As for the types of information in the users’ profile bio, results were almost similar. However, education details and marital status ranked higher for female users than male users, while contact details ranked higher for male users than female users. Job details were ranked last for both male and female users. While some existing literature has highlighted self-disclosure on social media in the Arab Gulf Region, this study is the first of its kind to examine different factors that influence the level of self-disclosure of Qatari users on Instagram.