The Impact of Immersive Narratives on Gamified Communication in Social Media Environments

Abstract

The study conducts a meta-analytical investigation to establish how immersive narratives influence gamified communication practices within social media platforms through empirical research synthesis. The research unites Social Interaction Theory with Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to demonstrate how interactive storytelling elements boost user engagement, emotional investment, and participation levels. User behavior transformation results from gamification strategies that utilize reward systems alongside interactive tasks along with personalized features in real time. The analysis shows that immersive storytelling in social media generates considerable positive benefits toward increased engagement, which the random-effects model demonstrates as highly impactful with a Zvalue of 224.87. Results show substantial variation across studies (I2 = 95.04%), suggesting that engagement effects depend on platform-specific features, user demographics, and the nature of interactive communication elements. Immersive storytelling success relies on specific adaptations to digital interfaces for obtaining better user loyalty and participation. Marketers, content creators, and platform developers would benefit from the research findings because they demonstrate how AIdriven adaptable engagement strategies should be part of their approach. The study has also uncovered several constraints because it features varied study methods together with brief time-based analysis and multiple interactive platforms. Future research should examine long-term ways users stay engaged and the storytelling specifications by platform as well as the role of emerging tech including AR, VR technology and AI personalized content. The current investigation provides comprehensive knowledge about how gaming elements and dynamic story-telling strengthen online interactions since it gives methods for better social media user engagement control as platforms evolve.