The Closer the Relationship, the More the Interaction on Facebook? Investigating the Case of Taiwan Users

Abstract

This study argues for the necessity of applying offline contexts to social networking site research and the importance of distinguishing the relationship types of users' counterparts when studying Facebook users' behaviors. In an attempt to examine the relationship among users' behaviors, their counterparts' relationship types, and the users' perceived acquaintanceships after using Facebook, this study first investigated users' frequently used tools when interacting with different types of friends. Users tended to use less time- and effort-consuming and less privacy-concerned tools with newly acquired friends. This study further examined users' behaviors in terms of their closeness and intimacy and their perceived acquaintanceships toward four different types of friends. The study found that users gained more perceived acquaintanceships from less close friends with whom users have more frequent interaction but less intimate behaviors. As for closer friends, users tended to use more intimate activities to interact with them. However, these activities did not necessarily occur more frequently than the activities they employed with their less close friends. It was found that perceived acquaintanceships with closer friends were significantly lower than those with less close friends. This implies that Facebook is a mechanism for new friends, rather than close friends, to become more acquainted.

Cross-cultural narcissism on Facebook: Relationship between self-presentation, social interaction and the open and covert narcissism on a social networking site in Germany and Russia

“…However, members also use SNSs to establish new relationships (Cabral, 2011;Hsu, Wang, & Tai, 2011).…”

Taiwanese Adolescents’ Self-Disclosures on Private Section of Facebook, Trusts in and Intimacy with Friends in Different Close Relationships

“…Previous studies indicated that adolescents make new friends from strangers (Lenhart & Madden, 2007a;Wolak et al, 2002) using Facebook games (Hsu et al, 2011). A survey by Lenhart and Madden (2007b) suggested that 32% of online teens were contacted by strangers, of which 23% reported feeling scared or uncomfortable because of that contact.…”

“…However, only some Facebook users build online relationships with new friends. According to a Taiwanese study by Hsu, Wang and Tai (2011), adolescents typically interact with new friends mainly through games. Similar findings were obtained by Vasalou, Joinson, and Courvoisier (2010), who investigated the practices of 423 Facebook users from five countries, and found that Facebook games and applications were useful for meeting new friends and joining a group.…”

“…Pempek et al (2009) categorized Facebook friends as "friends seen regularly," "hometown friends not seen regularly," "college friends not seen regularly, "acquaintances," "siblings and cousins," "strangers," and "parents." Another study of levels of Facebook friends was conducted by Hsu et al (2011) who investigated the acquaintanceships of Taiwanese users of Facebook, and classified friends as "new friends," "acquaintances," "familiar friends" and "close friends." Hsu et al further indicated that even though users generally interact with new friends via games, they wrote more on Facebook walls of their " familiar friends" and "close friends" than on the walls of their "new friends" and "acquaintances."…”

“…People who value intimacy tend to express concern and tend to disclose emotional, personal, and relational content. Hsu et al (2011) indicated that Facebook users typically use intimate activities when interacting with close friends. Thus, adolescents may seek to establish intimacy via interconnections with close friends and romantic partners while using Facebook.…”