Abstract:

This study analyzes information overload on a popular social media Sina Weibo in Mainland China. It explores how four factors, which are quantity of received information, perceived sophistication of information, exposure time, and users’ information literacy, affect perceived information overload. The findings show that perceived sophistication of information is a positive predictor of the perceived information overload, while increasing exposure time could decrease the likelihood of perceived information overload. But other two factors, which are quantity of received information and users’ information literacy, do not have significant relationship with perceived information overload. 

Key words: Sina Weibo;　Social media;　Perceived information overload;　Perceived degree, 　Influence factor