Stranger on the internet: Online self-disclosure and the role of visual anonymity

We detected new forms of self-disclosing behaviour online.We used qualitative methods to analyse videos on YouTube.These new forms of self-disclosure are not bound to conditions of visual anonymity.This finding puts previous research results in question.The paper concludes by presenting a revised model of online self-disclosure. This paper deals with the phenomenon of online self-disclosure. Two qualitative data analyses of YouTube videos were conducted. The studies revealed emerging forms of self-disclosure online, which are not necessarily bound to conditions of visual anonymity. This finding puts previous research results into question, which stress the strong correlation between self-disclosure and visual anonymity. The results of both qualitative studies showed that people also tend to disclose information in (visually) non-anonymous settings.The paper concludes by presenting a revised model of online self-disclosure and describing enhancing factors for self-disclosing behaviour on the internet based on the latest research results.

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