SOCIAL BOTS AND MEDIA DEPENDENCY - THE CASE OF CHINA'S "GLOW" SOFTWARE

Social bots are becoming increasingly prevalent in social networks and users are interacting with them more frequently. This article analyzes the impact of quasi-social interaction and media dependence on loneliness. Our case study of the Glow software reveals that media dependence significantly moderates the relationship between prosocial interactions and loneliness. We conclude that parasocial interactions are common in human media use, and thus social robots may be an effective solution for reducing loneliness.