Social anxiety in online social interactions: Examining the effects of self and audience images on anxiety, self-awareness and performance evaluations

Few studies have examined social anxiety symptoms during online social interactions. We examined self-report symptoms in individuals with elevated social anxiety in online interactions in the presence/absence of virtual audience images and the presence/absence of live videos of the self. Participants with elevated social anxiety who were not treatment-seeking gave a short impromptu talk via an online social communication platform. Participants were randomised to present with their camera on or off, and to audience images that were visible or not. We recorded participants’ self-reported anxiety, perspective taken, evaluations of speech performance, and post-event processing. Anxiety increased during the online social interaction. Furthermore, participants whose camera was on, but the audience was not visible, evaluated their own performance as worse and engaged in more severe negative post-event processing compared with the other conditions. Online videoconferencing tasks can induce anxiety and activate negative self-images and post-event evaluations of social performance. Our findings support the use of online social interactions to research social anxiety, maladaptive cognitive-behavioural biases and to develop novel interventions. • Study shows self-view and audience cues affect anxiety in socially anxious individuals online. • Online interaction triggered anxiety and negative self-evaluations in social anxiety. • Social anxiety linked to negative bias when viewing self without audience feedback. • Audience presence may reduce anxiety and improve self-evaluation in online settings. • External cues may buffer against negative thoughts after online social tasks.