Understanding social media and identity work in young people transitioning to university

•We explored the experiences of first year students transitioning to university.•We assessed their self comparison and community building via social media use.•Participants collated social media data using Pinterest.•We identified three phases of transition- affirmation, assimilation, integration.•We recommend further work to explore loneliness in this unique population.

Social media (SM) are a core component of young people's lives and have been researched in relation to relationship building and maintenance. While SM are known to be useful in supporting life transitions for young people, we know little about the specific use patterns or activities associated with social adjustment during the specific transition to university. We explore the use of social media during the student transition to university in relation to theories of social comparison and community building and describe a three stage process which accounts for this transition. Participants move through the stages of affirmation, assimilation and integration similar to other life transitions, but in doing so, we reveal the importance of the intersection between offline and online activities and highlight the benefits and limitations of SM use in this transitional period.