Exploring differences in how men and women respond to threats to positive face on social media

•For men and women, rejection and criticism on social media lead to retaliation.•Men’s retaliation was heightened compared to women’s.•Men responded to criticism differently than rejection, while women did not.

A three-condition (rejection, criticism, control) experiment (N = 78) with gender treated as an additional factor and moderating variable examined gender differences in response to two types of threats to positive face – rejection and criticism – on a social-networking site. Results showed it did not matter if men or women were rejected or criticized on a social-networking site; both threats to positive face lead to more retaliatory aggression, compared to the control. However, men retaliated to a greater extent than women to both types of threats. Also, men responded differently to criticism than to rejection, while women’s results did not vary. Findings are discussed in relation to face theory and politeness theory, particularly in regard to computer-mediated communication.