Conducted from October to December 2014, this research set out to gain an understanding of the motivation and behaviorist principles that underlie the social media communication of educated young Russian adult Muscovites aged between 25 – 34 years. Social exchange theory is used as a theoretical framework to investigate this particular communication. The empirical part of the research consisted in conducting 8 semi-structured interviews with Muscovites (equal number of males and females) about their social media behavior. The aim of the research was to gain a deep understanding of the social media communication phenomenon through the cases studied, without generalizing the obtained results to the population at large.

The research participants have been using social media for a long time, the average being more than 8 years. The participants spend, according to their own estimation, between 10 minutes to 3 hours per day in social media, which is a significant amount of time, especially when considering that all except one spent at least 1 hour per day in social media. To compare, in 2012, Russians spent on average 9.6 hours per month in social media whereas the world average was 5.2 hours.

Social media has great importance as shown by the following statements most commonly cited by the research participants:

• Social media is an important part of life;
• Social media is the first thing to do in the morning and the last before going to sleep, constantly checking social media like an addiction;
• Cannot imagine his/her life without social media.

For Maria (28, Marketing Manager), Facebook is the front page for everything she wants to get, and she usually gets everything there. Facebook is considered to be a platform opening up to the world, allowing to communicate with international friends and Russians who are politically aware, whereas VK is used for communication with Russian friends and relatives, to listen to music and watch videos. Social media is used extensively, mainly in between different activities, for instance, while waiting for a meeting or stuck in traffic, etc. For Vladimir (32, Engineer), social media has replaced his email and for Maria text messages, as they stopped using emails and text messages with their friends, and use Facebook instead. The research participants do not consider that they have power over their friends and contacts in social media, but some think they can influence their friends when they express their opinion on topics about which they are known to have an expert knowledge.

The research objective was to gain a deep understanding of the motivation and behaviorist principles that underlie the communication of educated young Russian adult Muscovites in social media. The research results suggest that there are 5 main categories of behaviorist principles and motivation for communication as indicated below.

1) Rewards

The research participants in general consider feedback, such as getting “likes”, comments to pictures, postings or check-ins they have published, as a reward. The desire to receive rewards at least partly drives participants’ behavior in social media. The nature of these rewards is both extrinsic and intrinsic.

Some even make rational calculation of costs and rewards before posting anything. For example, Nikolai (30, General Manager) considers feedback as his reward, but before posting something controversial to social media, he evaluates whether costs (such as negative feedback, comments) will exceed rewards (“likes” and positive comments). For most, time is the most evident cost they bear to receive rewards, but some like Vladimir do not see any evident costs. Feedback is an important motivational factor for Vladimir, when his friends and contacts “like” or comment the photos he has published in social media,this makes him work harder, i.e. taking and publishing more photos. The participants indicated that they had received the following rewards in social media communication:

• Creating a desired image enabling receipt of other rewards;
• Finding a partner/friend;
• Receiving feedback, for instance, in the form of “likes” and comments;
• Feeling of satisfaction, significance and achievement;
• Career growth;
• New business;
• Receipt of positive emotions, information, knowledge, job offers, invitations.

2) Reciprocity

The research participants feel they are obliged to reciprocate if another person interacts with them by “liking” their posts, sharing their post or leaving comments for them in social media. This is because they want to be polite or to indicate that they have noted other people’s actions. The participants also expect reaction and feedback if they have posted, written or commented in social media. “Likes” are often used to inform people that the person has seen a comment or posting, whereas comments are considered more valuable and used, for instance, in the case of Svetlana (27, Category Manager) when she feels that someone has left a special posting or comment. The participants also often offer their help to their friends, as they expect to receive something back, such as help when they need it themselves, recognition from other people or payback from life itself.

Maria and Evgeny (26, Purchaser) also use “likes”, comments and sharing in social media for career and professional purposes. As a result of his communication in social media, Evgeny seeks to have something meaningful to discuss in real life, and both consider that “liking”, sharing or commenting may affect positively their career/professional life as the person at the receiving end of this interaction knows that they are following his/her life, and even sharing similar views and opinions depending on the actions.

3) Practical reasons for communication

Social media is a very practical tool for daily communication, maintaining connections and collecting information and news from various sources. Some of the participants have stopped using email or text messages as they find communication through social media better. The most important reasons mentioned by the research participants to use social media for communication are listed below:

• Free;
• Fast;
• Saves time;
• Mass distribution and reach;
• Easy to get in touch with a person after meeting in real life;
• One platform for all communication and socializing;
• To keep busy while waiting for something.

4) Being aware of and connected to the world

The research participants have described their motivations and reasons to use social media as follows: they consider social media to be a place that makes them feel connected to the world, where it is possible to find new and interesting information, a place that allows raising their world awareness, where it is possible to get to know and follow up the lives of friends and contacts, meet new people, learn new things and gain knowledge, see the world and different places through social media and others.

5) Entertainment

Social media is also a place for the participants to look for entertainment, watch movies and funny videos, listen to music, enjoy themselves and waste time. The behavior and motivation for communication combine many factors, namely: the participants’ desire to receive rewards, expectation and the obligation for reciprocity, practical reasons for communication, awareness and connection to the world, as well as entertainment. Social media is also replacing some existing communication channels, such as text messages and email. It is also for some of the educated young adult Muscovites the mostly used communication channel as well as a place where they receive all the things they need in their lives.

Theoretical implications:

This research is the first of its kind in terms of applying social exchange theory to social media communication in order to investigate the behavior and motivation for communication. The empirical findings of this research suggest that it may be hypothesized that the principles of social exchange theory apply to most of the social media communication of educated young adult Muscovites, namely:

• Desire to obtain rewards;
• Rational calculation of costs and rewards;
• Reciprocity that stimulates interaction.

This implies that when practical aspects and entertainment are put aside, this research provides evidence that some educated young adult Muscovites are rationally seeking actors that aim to maximize their profits in their social media communication and interaction. Social media is a great venue for profiting as it is a sort of parallel virtual reality where “likes” and comments can be used as a non-financial money (as they are considered rewards in terms of feedback, etc.) to obtain rewards (partly due to reciprocity). “Likes” and comments are exchanged in social media with the expectations for reciprocity. This means that when a person “likes” or comments someone’s post, there is expectation that the receiver would return this in the same form in social media (“likes”, comments, etc.) or consider this in real life situation.