Social networking sites don't deepen friendships - GoFuckYourself.com

polish_aristocrat · 09-27-2007, 06:13 AM

from the Guardian, UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...eed=technology

Quote:

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace do not help you make more genuine close friends, according to a survey by researchers who studied how the websites are changing the nature of friendship networks.
Although social networking on the internet helps people to collect hundreds or even thousands of acquaintances, the researchers believe that face to face contact is nearly always necessary to form truly close friendships.

"Although the numbers of friends people have on these sites can be massive, the actual number of close friends is approximately the same in the face to face real world," said Will Reader at Sheffield Hallam University.

Social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace have taken off rapidly in recent years. Facebook was launched initially in 2004 for Harvard University members but has since expanded to over 34m users worldwide. MySpace, which was set up in 2003, has over 200m users and was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 2005 for $580m.

Previous research has suggested that a person's conventional friendship group consists of around 150 people, with five very close friends but larger numbers of people who we keep in touch with less regularly. This figure is so consistent that scientists have suggested it is determined by the cognitive constraints of keeping up with large numbers of people. Larger numbers just require too much brain effort to keep track of.

But Dr Reader and his team have found that social networking sites do allow people to stretch this figure. The team asked over 200 people to fill in questionnaires about their online networking, asking for example how many online friends they had, how many of these were close friends and how many they had met face to face.

The team found that although the sites allowed contact with hundreds of acquaintances, as with conventional friendship networks, people tend to have around 5 close friends. Also, 90% of contacts that the subjects regarded as close friends were people they had met face to face. "People see face to face contact as being absolutely imperative in forming close friendships," added Dr Reader.

He told the British Association Festival of Science in York that social networking sites allow people to broaden their list of nodding acquaintances because staying in touch online is easy.

"What social network sites can do is decrease the cost of maintaining and forming these social networks because we can post information to multiple people," he said.

But to develop a real friendship we need to see that the other person is trustworthy. "We invest time and effort in them in the hope that sometime they will help us out. It is a kind of reciprocal relationship," said Dr Reader, "What we need is to be absolutely sure that a person is really going to invest in us, is really going to be there for us when we need them...It's very easy to be deceptive on the internet."

Gentle_Ben · 09-27-2007, 06:46 AM

their really good for snooping though lol

Klen · 09-27-2007, 06:55 AM

No kidding.I have 3500 friends on myspace and a some of them are from my city and i never hanged with any of them.

polish_aristocrat · 09-27-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

No kidding.I have 3500 friends on myspace and a some of them are from my city and i never hanged with any of them.

wtf? so why did you get them on your myspace friend list?

if they were hot women you wanted to fuck, then i can understand it, but other than that - why?

JamesK · 09-27-2007, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat

wtf? so why did you get them on your myspace friend list?

if they were hot women you wanted to fuck, then i can understand it, but other than that - why?

So it looks like he's popular.

mistergardener · 09-27-2007, 07:06 AM

They are just friend collection sites.

I found out about my ex's new girlfriend through Friendster. And her girlfriend's hotter than my wife!!!

TG Rebecca · 09-27-2007, 07:36 AM

they're definitely good for finding friends that you lost contact with years ago.. or having someone that you can't stand from your past shooting you a message like you're best friends.

D · 09-27-2007, 07:40 AM

I use MySpace to keep tabs on my real friends... close or not... and have arranged many a trip to the pub via bank-and-forth in the "comments" area.

So yeah... it takes face-time - I agree with that - but I'd also say that, in my case, MySpace has helped.

Klen · 09-27-2007, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat

wtf? so why did you get them on your myspace friend list?

if they were hot women you wanted to fuck, then i can understand it, but other than that - why?

Spamming purposes

2012 · 09-27-2007, 07:57 AM

they only enhance them

Kristian · 09-27-2007, 08:03 AM

Interesting read.

The world is heading towards a social environment where we are seeing less and less contact with people. Not only that but we're getting used to forming online relationships. I think the more we get used to the non face to face life, the more we'll be able to develop close relationships at a distance. But I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

Brad · 09-27-2007, 08:12 AM

Well the guy that wrote this must have been a genius because I never would have figured that out. I thought that anyone that adds me on facebook is automatically my bestest friend for life. Is this really not true? My life is shattered.

I'm pretty confident that everyone know you actually need to "hang out" with your friends to call them real "friends".

Facebook (don't know about myspace because I never had a profile on that piece of crap) is good at organizing events, seeing what your highschool friends are up to, seeing who is doing what and where, seeing the degrees of separation between your friends, and keeping in touch all rolled into one interface. Personally if I want to send a message to someone through the computer I am more likely going to send a message over facebook rather than email because I know people check their facebook more often than their email (for those who are active on it).

There are other good uses too but I just can't think of them right now. Oh, the other nice thing is that there is not much advertising in facebook...it's like a little safe haven on the interweb (yes I know they have some advertising but not nearly as much as even our favourite...gfy).

Another thing just occurred to me. GFY is kind of like a social networking site in the form of a message board as many of us have never met face to face, yet we make friends and enemies here. So in that respect that article is sort of wrong.

ClubMicah · 09-27-2007, 02:17 PM

good for having old friends find you

Klen · 09-27-2007, 02:34 PM

Yet again i never sended a single bulletin.I was excepting atleast 10000 friends

polish_aristocrat · 09-28-2007, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

Spamming purposes

Quote:

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

Yet again i never sended a single bulletin.I was excepting atleast 10000 friends

im not sure if Im following you

you have thousands of 'friends' on Myspace from your country and you'd like to spam them?

what could you spam to people in Croatia?

i dont really know how's money to be made there (unless you got tens of thousands friends and spam them dating sites etc but you're a guy and have friends from Croatia)

I never had a myspace or facebook profile so maybe im missing sth though

Drake · 09-28-2007, 08:47 AM

Those sites are good for keeping tabs on people and seeing what old friends are up to.

sniperwolf · 09-28-2007, 11:17 AM

and just good for people who look for dates.

09-27-2007, 06:46 AM	#2
Gentle_Ben Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barcelona Posts: 733	their really good for snooping though lol __________________ ICQ ME: 203-810-401

09-27-2007, 07:06 AM	#6
mistergardener Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 746	They are just friend collection sites. I found out about my ex's new girlfriend through Friendster. And her girlfriend's hotter than my wife!!! __________________ Last edited by mistergardener; 09-27-2007 at 07:08 AM..

09-27-2007, 07:36 AM	#7
TG Rebecca Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,450	they're definitely good for finding friends that you lost contact with years ago.. or having someone that you can't stand from your past shooting you a message like you're best friends. __________________ ICQ: 263-993 \| AIM: TG Rep Rebecca Email: [email protected]

09-27-2007, 07:40 AM	#8
D Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: The Valley Posts: 7,412	I use MySpace to keep tabs on my real friends... close or not... and have arranged many a trip to the pub via bank-and-forth in the "comments" area. So yeah... it takes face-time - I agree with that - but I'd also say that, in my case, MySpace has helped. __________________ -D. ICQ: 202-96-31

09-27-2007, 07:57 AM	#10
2012 So Fucking What Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 17,189	they only enhance them __________________ best host: Webair \| best sponsor: Kink \| best coder: 688218966 \| Go Fuck Yourself

09-27-2007, 06:55 AM	#3
Klen Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Little Vienna Posts: 32,235	No kidding.I have 3500 friends on myspace and a some of them are from my city and i never hanged with any of them.

09-27-2007, 08:03 AM	#11
Kristian Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 3,733	Interesting read. The world is heading towards a social environment where we are seeing less and less contact with people. Not only that but we're getting used to forming online relationships. I think the more we get used to the non face to face life, the more we'll be able to develop close relationships at a distance. But I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

09-27-2007, 08:12 AM	#12
Brad Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 2,510	Well the guy that wrote this must have been a genius because I never would have figured that out. I thought that anyone that adds me on facebook is automatically my bestest friend for life. Is this really not true? My life is shattered. I'm pretty confident that everyone know you actually need to "hang out" with your friends to call them real "friends". Facebook (don't know about myspace because I never had a profile on that piece of crap) is good at organizing events, seeing what your highschool friends are up to, seeing who is doing what and where, seeing the degrees of separation between your friends, and keeping in touch all rolled into one interface. Personally if I want to send a message to someone through the computer I am more likely going to send a message over facebook rather than email because I know people check their facebook more often than their email (for those who are active on it). There are other good uses too but I just can't think of them right now. Oh, the other nice thing is that there is not much advertising in facebook...it's like a little safe haven on the interweb (yes I know they have some advertising but not nearly as much as even our favourite...gfy). Another thing just occurred to me. GFY is kind of like a social networking site in the form of a message board as many of us have never met face to face, yet we make friends and enemies here. So in that respect that article is sort of wrong. __________________ Affiliate Manager/Media Buyer ICQ 376 978 529 Skype: bradleyjwscott [email protected]

09-27-2007, 02:17 PM	#13
ClubMicah Confirmed User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Hollywood, FL Los Angeles, CA Portland, OR Posts: 100	good for having old friends find you __________________ Promote me at

09-27-2007, 02:34 PM	#14
Klen Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Little Vienna Posts: 32,235	Yet again i never sended a single bulletin.I was excepting atleast 10000 friends

09-28-2007, 08:47 AM	#16
Drake Hello world! Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 12,508	Those sites are good for keeping tabs on people and seeing what old friends are up to.

09-28-2007, 11:17 AM	#17
sniperwolf Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 17,743	and just good for people who look for dates. __________________ ~Accepting design works~