Tyrus Chuang

Title: How and Why Do People use Discord as a General Messaging Application?

Started Nov. 10, 2021

Abstract or project description

The abstract sums it up nicely: This project examines how and why people use Discord, a messaging application launched in 2015 that has gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being initially designed to support online gaming, previous research suggests that Discord is generally user friendly and supportive of non-gaming communication, such as in student’s online learning activities. However, the extent to which individual attitudes and characteristics predict Discord use is still unknown. Hence, we will conduct a survey-based study to examine how user attitudes (e.g., about advertising) and traits (e.g., gaming experience, age, gender) relate to perceptions of Discord and other messaging platforms. This research will provide insights into the larger context of messaging application adoption, guided by the research questions and hypotheses below.