Development and Measurement Validity of a Social Media Activity Instrument

The rise in social media and the number of applications and platforms that one can use to engage with others online about social issues such as political discourse, social segregation, and academics has raised valid concerns among researchers. Researchers would benefit from a valid instrument to measure individuals’ social media activity in order to thoroughly investigate these profound issues. Accordingly, we design, deploy, and validate a new survey instrument focused on social media activity. We test the model’s validity from various perspectives (internal, construct, convergent, etc.) to create a reliable instrument for researchers. The instrument distinctively draws from the theory of planned behavior and social identity theory and, thereby, provides a strong theoretical underpinning to social media activity’s dimensions. Our results demonstrate our instrument to have reliability and discriminant validity.