Social MediARverse: investigating users’ social media content sharing and consuming intentions with location-based AR

Abstract Augmented Reality (AR) is evolving to become the next frontier in social media, merging physical and virtual reality into a living metaverse, a Social MediARverse. With this transition, we must understand how different contexts—public, semi-public, and private—affect user engagement with AR content. We address this gap in current research by conducting an online survey with 110 participants, showcasing 36 AR videos, and polling them about the content’s fit and appropriateness. Specifically, we manipulated these three spaces, two forms of dynamism (dynamic vs. static), and two dimensionalities (2D vs. 3D). Our findings reveal that dynamic AR content is generally more favorably received than static content. Additionally, users find sharing and engaging with AR content in private settings more comfortable than in others. By this, the study offers valuable insights for designing and implementing future Social MediARverses and guides industry and academia on content visualization and contextual considerations.