Spatial Patterns of Purposeful Social Networking and Socioeconomic Influences: Towards a Mature, Inclusive Networked Society in the U.S.

Social media use in the United States has been steadily increasing over the past decade as various social media platforms have become the primary channel of online engagement for the American internet user. Today, Americans use social media to communicate with friends, family, and peers, access entertainment and education, engage in various business and commercial activities, and influence the lifestyles of consumers. As the spectrum of purposeful use of social media diversifies, this paper examines geographic patterns of social media adoption, diffusion, and utilization in U.S. counties. Alongside, the paper also examines demographic and socioeconomic determinants of purposeful social media utilization. Overall, the study sheds light on an important aspect of the contemporary digital divide in the United States. To examine purposeful social network and media use, the paper focuses on penetration of popular social media/networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube in U.S. counties. The purpose of use of such platforms – to engage in e-communication, e-commerce, e-entertainment, e-health, and e-education are also examined through the dual lenses of geographic and socioeconomic variations. By borrowing from Adoption-Diffusion Theory (ADT) and Spatially Aware Technology Utilization Model (SATUM), the paper’s conceptual framework posits associations of 18 independent variables with 17 indicators of social media penetration and purposeful usage. Spatial patterns and disparities of social media penetration and purposeful use are analyzed and provide important clues about the geography of the social media digital divide. For example, social media penetration and purposeful use in counties in the U.S. rural south are found to rival counties in the Rocky Mountain States and in some cases exceed counties in urban metropolitan areas in the West- and East Coasts. The presence of spatial bias in social media penetration and use is also diagnosed using spatial autocorrelation analysis. This in turn influences the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression-based analysis of socioeconomic, infrastructural, and social capital underpinnings. For a sample of 3,076 counties in the lower 48 states, leading determinants of purposeful social media use are found to be age structure, urbanization, race/ethnicity and professional, scientific, technical services and overall service sector occupations are found to influence social network access and purposeful use. These findings have important policy implications to broaden the reach and impacts of social media in the U.S. Overall, as the digital divide literature expands its focus from access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) to their actual use and ultimate impact, this study is unique due to its focus on purposeful use of social media. Sourcing data from a variety of public- and private sources, the study focuses on social media usage as well as access and sheds light on county-level disparities and their socioeconomic underpinnings. As purposeful internet use continues to diversify, the findings of this study can inform social media adoption, diffusion, and use policies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that all Americans can participate and engage in online activities and derive benefits in an equitable way.