The Online Social Support Scale (OSSS)
NOTES FOR RESEARCHERS
The OSSS is free to use for research purposes. Most importantly, the list of social media and Internet spaces on the first
page of the measure is intended to be adjusted and updated by each research group using the measure as they see fit.
Research groups should make their updates depending on the popularity/availability of platforms at the time of the
research being conducted. Note that the platforms presented in the original measure below were popular in the years
leading up to publication in 2018 but some (e.g., Vine) no longer exist.
For the social support items on the second page, the subscales are the following:
• Esteem/Emotional online social support: sum of items 1-10
• Social Companionship online social support: sum of items 11-20
• Informational online social support: sum of items 21-30
• Instrumental online social support: sum of items 31-40
• Total online social support: sum of items 1-40
There are no “cutoffs” denoting “low,” “medium” or “high” levels for either the social media use items (page 1) or the
online social support subscales or total scale (page 2). Because people’s online experiences are so varied and dependent
on age and access, we believe scores from both sets of items should be considered continuously (e.g., within your sample,
does relatively greater online social support correlate with greater levels of X, Y or Z).
Please refer to the following publication which describes the measure’s development, reliability, and convergent validity,
discriminant validity:
Nick, E. A., Cole, D. A., Cho, S.-J., Smith, D. K., Carter, T. G., & Zelkowitz, R. L. (2018). The Online Social Support
Scale: Measure development and validation. Psychological Assessment, 30(9), 1127–
1143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000558
Thanks for using our measure!
Elizabeth Nick, PhD
elizabeth.nick@gmail.com
The Online Social Support Scale (OSSS)
Most sites, apps, services, and games on the Internet can be used in lots of different ways and for different purposes.
We’re interested in how much you use these online spaces to connect or interact with other people.
• This means we are interested in how much you use these online spaces to talk with people, post, comment, like,
send messages, game with others, etc.
• This means we are not interested in how much you use these online spaces to scroll through other people’s posts,
watch or read content, or just look up information.
How much do you use the following sites, apps, services, or games to connect or interact with other people?
0 = Never, 1 = Rarely, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Pretty Often, 4 = A Lot
Facebook 0 1 2 3 4
Instagram 0 1 2 3 4
Twitter 0 1 2 3 4
Snapchat 0 1 2 3 4
Tumblr 0 1 2 3 4
Vine 0 1 2 3 4
YouTube 0 1 2 3 4
Pinterest 0 1 2 3 4
Reddit 0 1 2 3 4
Yik Yak 0 1 2 3 4
Kik 0 1 2 3 4
LinkedIn 0 1 2 3 4
GroupMe 0 1 2 3 4
WhatsApp 0 1 2 3 4
Google+ 0 1 2 3 4
Whatsgoodly 0 1 2 3 4
Chat services 0 1 2 3 4
E-mail 0 1 2 3 4
Texting 0 1 2 3 4
Dating sites/apps (e.g., Tinder) 0 1 2 3 4
First person shooter games (e.g., Call of Duty) 0 1 2 3 4
Battle arena games (MOBAs: e.g., League of Legends) 0 1 2 3 4
Sports/fighting/racing games (e.g., FIFA, Street Fighter, Mario Kart) 0 1 2 3 4
Role-playing games (RPGs: e.g., World of Warcraft) 0 1 2 3 4
If you interact with people using other sites, apps, services, or games,
0 1 2 3 4
please write them in and rate how often you use them:
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4
1
Now, think about the online spaces you use above. Rate how often the following things have happened for you while you
interacted with others online over the last two months. Use the following scale:
0 = Never, 1 = Rarely, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Pretty Often, 4 = A Lot
1. People show that they care about me online. 0 1 2 3 4
2. Online, people say or do things that make me feel good about myself. 0 1 2 3 4
3. People encourage me when I’m online. 0 1 2 3 4
4. People pay attention to me online. 0 1 2 3 4
5. I get likes, favorites, upvotes, views, etc. online. 0 1 2 3 4
6. I get positive comments online. 0 1 2 3 4
7. When I’m online, people tell me they like the things I say or do. 0 1 2 3 4
8. Online, people are interested in me as a person. 0 1 2 3 4
9. People support me online. 0 1 2 3 4
10. When I’m online, people make me feel good about myself. 0 1 2 3 4
11. When I’m online, I talk or do things with other people. 0 1 2 3 4
12. People spend time with me online. 0 1 2 3 4
13. People hang out and do fun things with me online. 0 1 2 3 4
14. Online, I belong to groups of people with similar interests. 0 1 2 3 4
15. People talk with me online about things we have in common. 0 1 2 3 4
16. Online, I connect with people who like the same things I do. 0 1 2 3 4
17. I am part of groups online. 0 1 2 3 4
18. When I’m online, people joke and kid around with me. 0 1 2 3 4
19. People relate to me through things I say or do online. 0 1 2 3 4
20. Online, people make me feel like I belong. 0 1 2 3 4
21. When I’m online, people give me useful advice. 0 1 2 3 4
22. Online, people provide me with helpful information. 0 1 2 3 4
23. If I had a problem, people would help me online by saying what they would do. 0 1 2 3 4
24. Online, people would tell me where to find help if I needed it. 0 1 2 3 4
25. People help me learn new things when I’m online. 0 1 2 3 4
26. People offer suggestions to me online. 0 1 2 3 4
27. People tell me things I want to know online. 0 1 2 3 4
28. When I’m online, people help me understand my situation better. 0 1 2 3 4
29. If I had a problem, people would share their point of view online. 0 1 2 3 4
30. People help me see things in new ways when I’m online. 0 1 2 3 4
31. People online would help me with money or other things if I needed it. 0 1 2 3 4
32. When I’m online, people help me with school or work. 0 1 2 3 4
33. Online, people help me get things done. 0 1 2 3 4
34. If I needed a hand doing something, I go online to find people who will help out. 0 1 2 3 4
35. Online, people offer to do things for me. 0 1 2 3 4
36. Online, people help me with causes or events that I think are important. 0 1 2 3 4
37. When I’m online, people have offered me things I need. 0 1 2 3 4
38. When I need something, I go online to find someone who might lend it to me. 0 1 2 3 4
39. When I need a hand with school or work things, I get help from others online. 0 1 2 3 4
40. I contact people online to get help or raise money for things I think are important. 0 1 2 3 4
