Understanding Human Acceptance and Use of Self-Media: An Integrative Review and Research Framework

Authors

  • Yang Lu 1,* https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3027-3064
    • Conceptualization
    • Data Curation
    • Formal Analysis
    • Investigation
    • Methodology
    • Project Administration
    • Visualization
    • Writing – Original Draft Preparation
    • Writing – Review & Editing
1 Faculty of Business, Information & Human Sciences (FBIHS), Kuala Lumpur University of Science & Technology (KLUST), Kajang, Malaysia, 43000
Corresponding author: ziiyuu@gmail.com

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63646/OBFP8013

Keywords:

creator-led social media, user-generated content, technology acceptance, user engagement, trust, algorithmic curation, creator economy, digital well-being Article History: Received: November 19, 2024 Revised: January 23, 2025 Accepted: March 17, 2025 Available Online: June 30, respond to a viewer, recommend a product, correct another user's claim and seek an audience without owning a conventional media organization. Conversely, another individual may use the same service only to read

Abstract

Creator-led social media has expanded opportunities for people to encounter information, maintain relationships, express identities and produce content for others. Yet research on adoption, engagement, influencer persuasion, algorithmic curation and creator labour often develops in separate conversations, making it difficult to explain how an individual becomes, remains or ceases to be a user. This integrative review synthesizes selected peer-reviewed research published from 2020 to 2024 and proposes a human–platform–creator framework. It distinguishes initial acceptance from consumption, interaction, content creation and continued or discontinued use, and treats these activities as related but not inevitable stages. The framework links individual motivations and capabilities with social relationships, creator credibility, platform affordances, algorithmic exposure and institutional conditions. Trust operates at several levels: users may trust a creator, a particular claim or the platform to different degrees. Benefits, including information, belonging and creative opportunity, coexist with misinformation, privacy loss, unequal visibility, fatigue and commercial pressure. Evidence from different methods does not support a single causal account: survey associations, experimental interventions and qualitative creator accounts answer different questions. The review recommends longitudinal and comparative research, activity-specific behavioural measures, transparent study of recommendation systems and inclusive attention to underrepresented users. Its practical contribution is to explain why acceptance and use should be assessed by meaningful participation, user agency and verifiable outcomes rather than engagement counts alone.

How to Cite

Lu, Y. (2025). Understanding Human Acceptance and Use of Self-Media: An Integrative Review and Research Framework. Crossroads of Future Technologies, 1(1), 21-36. https://doi.org/10.63646/OBFP8013

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