“With the proliferation of social networking sites and the aggregation and documentation of comprehensive “social networks,” future research should address how the contemporary definition of “friend” is changing.”
Stefanone, Lackaff & Rosen
Social networking sites allow us to friend anyone and anytime with the technological advancements of smart phones. I know I’ve asked the question, “Are you on Facebook?” During discussions with my friends, I’ve heard the statement, “it’s not official until it’s on Facebook,” in reference to new friendships or new relationships. These comments were made jokingly but it is important to recognize how social media influences they ways in which we define relationships.
The above quote clearly recognizes this shift in how we define our friendships. Do we define our friendships by the friends I interact with face to face or my online friends? Some video game research shows that players feel that their friendships built online have the same strength as face to face friendships.
Other research shows that parasocial relationships provide only supplementary relationships and do not replace primary relationships. Maybe the changing definition of friendship is occurring only on a case by case basis right now. As technology continues to develop how much will friendship change?
Some people prefer texting to actually talking to someone over the phone. Others prefer email than a phone call. There are so many mediums to choose from that I wonder if phone conversations will end altogether.
The article where I found the quote also noted the idea of “friend promiscuity” which means that someone will “friend” anyone on social media sites just to increase his/her number of “friends.” Social media websites are creating new conditions. There is now a disorder called social media hoarding, which involves a user spending an obscene amount of time on social media websites and time spent away causes discomfort for the user.
What other conditions may develop from social media? Some of the changes social media brings are useful and beneficial. However, I am concerned about the depths the negative components of social media bring to users.
This is a really good point and definitely worth further investigation, but there are some possible benefits to social relationships when social media and face to face interactions are combined. That is, using social media allows one to either "screen" potential friends or learn more about "who they are" which may promote a closer or more quickly developed friendship or allow one to avoid complicated entanglements. You are right that the changing dynamic of friendships as a result of online communication must be investigated to understand modern social interactions :)
ReplyDeleteI think is is a good point to recognize that people can screen friends online. However, authors of their site can be selective in what they post so we may not great a true grasp of who they are. We only get to see a portion of them but maybe that is enough.
ReplyDeleteFurther study is needed as social media is redefining human interactions.
I guess with Twitter we have followers and followees and don't have to bother with defining the word "friend," but here's a question: what's the difference in a MySpace "friend" and a Facebook "friend"?
ReplyDeleteI like the original question asked and Phillip's follow-up to it. These all seem to be friends in the very basic sense of somebody that I'm showing a moderate interest in. I suppose one way to operationalize friends in social media could be a focus on the quality and quantity of interactions?
ReplyDeleteThere is of course no argument that we can form friends online - Walther and other established this with Social Information Processing Theory (2006, basically arguing that with time we can make meaningful relationships online just as we do offline); this really is a moot point. But the question here is are we digital friends in a semantic sense, or is there deeper meaning in here?
Thinking about Cassie and Kristin's conversation, we might just think about having different context for the word "friend". I mean, do we consider colleagues and friends in the same way? We certainly are privy to different sets of information about each.
Facebook's usage of the word "friend" has helped to change how we use it. For example, when I meet someone new, I typically suggest "let's be friends on Facebook." Although, this person is categorized as a friend online I do not necessarily consider them a close friend. Nick, I think you've hit the nail on the head by suggesting that the word "friend" has several contexts. Friendship is now two-fold, online and face-to-face.
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