Using what social media has to offer: pre-teens' online self-presentation practices

The current study explores pre-teens' self-presentation on social media and investigates to what extent they capitalize on social media's opportunities to reflect on, visually alter, and receive feedback on their self-presentations. We conducted an online school-based study among boo 8-12-year olds in the Netherlands. The majority (55%) of pre-teens had a social media account and this percentage increased with age. Most pre-teens with a social media account shared messages and pictures, thought carefully about what (not) to post, and received (positive) feedback. Photo editing was less popular, but more common among girls. Receiving negative feedback was also uncommon, but more frequent among boys and younger pre-teens. Younger pre-teens were also less likely to reflect before posting. Pre-teens thus practice self-presentation on social media and become more skilled at this with age. Social media may help pre-teens develop impression management skills, which are central to pre-teen development.