Abstract: ［Purpose/Significance］This study takes the elderly group as the research object and conducts a sample survey in Shanghai, which aims to explore the influence of social media use on the elderly subjective well-being and provide reference for relevant sectors to improve services for the elderly.［Design/Methodology］Based on a literature research, the study group firstly determined the multi-dimensional indicators those could affect the elderly subjective well-being by using WeChat and Douyin as the representative social media. Then a pre-test was developed by convenient sampling method, and the initial scale was improved and optimized according to the pre-test results. Finally, a conversational questionnaire was carried out for data analysis and interpretation.［Findings/Conclusion］This study extracts two dimensions of the social media use influence on the elderly subjective well-being: positive emotion and life satisfaction. And the multiple regression model shows that: (i) The elderly positive emotion of social media use is significantly positively correlated with age and social behavior; (ii) The elderly life satisfaction due to the social media use is significantly correlated with age, monthly disposable income, education level, social behavior and information behavior; (iii) Expectation has a significant moderating effect on the positive emotions of the elderly subjective well-being affected by social media information behavior. ［Originality/Value］This study explores a multi-dimensional structure of social media use affecting the elderly subjective well-being, specific indicators and the moderating effect of expectation on them, which is of certain academic value and reflects the academic care for the vulnerable groups. It is of particular practical significance for today’s China since the society is accelerating towards deep aging. It also brings new inspirations for us to scientifically guide the elderly viewpoints of social media and promote active aging.

Key words: Social media, The elderly, Subjective well-being, Social behavior, Information behavior, Active aging