To tweet or 'subtweet'?: Impacts of social networking post directness and valence on interpersonal impressions

Subtweeting denotes using an SNS post to talk about another user behind his or her back in a public forum. This study investigates how others in the online environment view subtweeters and their messages. The experiment involved manipulating SNS posts in terms of directness of reference to another user (tweets versus subtweets) and valence of information (face-threatening versus face-giving messages). Results demonstrated that, overall, subtweets were perceived as lower in message competence, which led to less favorable interpersonal impressions of their sources. However, directness and valence interacted. Subtweeting led to less favorable impressions of face-giving posts, but more favorable impressions of face-threatening posts. Sources of direct, face-giving posts were rated most favorably. We present implications for Face Theory and politeness, and practical guidance for SNS users.