Virtual Relationships

• Virtual relationships


  relationships where people aren't physically present but communicate exclusively using online methods such as emails, social media or by texting.
• Benefits of online friendship

  friends with similar interests

  connect for people across the globe

  meet a wider range of partners

  easier to end

  beneficial for people with social anxiety
• Danger of online friendship

  being catfished/scammed

  may get groomed/exploited

  easily lie

  digital footprint

  lack of body language
• Face to face (FtF) vs online relationships

  in virtual relationships self-disclosure tend to occur much faster

  anonymity associated with online relationships, people tend to hold off disclosing personal info IRL in fear of ridicule or rejection, unless they're confident they can trust the person and info won't to leaked to mutual friends

  less risk of this in virtual relationships, so people can share personal experiences + thoughts without risk of intimate info getting back to people they know.
• Hyperpersonal Model


  Walther argues online relationships are more personal and involve greater self-disclosure than FtF because CMC relationships can develop very quickly as self disclosure happens earlier and once established is more intense and intimate

  Can also end more quickly because high excitement isn't matched by level of trust (Cooper and Sportolari called this boom and bust phenomenon)

  Key feature is sender has more time to manipulate online image than in FtF (selective self-presentation), people have control and can manipulate self-disclosure to promote intimacy, self-presenting in positive idealised way

  Bargh et al suggest the outcome is rather like stranger of trains effect in FtF relationships -> when other people don't know your identity, you feel less accountable for your behaviour so may disclosure more.
• Reduced Cues Theory


  Keisler and Sproull suggests CMC relationships may have poorer level of intimacy and delayed self-disclosure as some of vital cues present in FtF relationships aren't present in CMC relationships.

  act as a compromise for lack of cues, one or both individuals are likely to be blunt or impersonal, reducing likelihood of future self-disclosure and early intimacy.
• What is CMC?


  computer mediated communication
• Absence of gating in virtual relationships

  McKenna and Bargh argue an advantage of CMC is absence of gating. means that a relationship can develop to point where self-disclosure becomes more frequent + deeper.

  allows online relationships to 'get off the ground' in a way that's less likely to happen in FtF situation.

  people can create untrue identities and deceive people in ways they couldn't manage FtF.
• Weakness - lack of research support for reduced cues theory

  Walther and Tidwell suggests people in online interactions use cues which are different from FtF ones.

  cues include the style and timing of messages.

  taking time to reply to social network update is often interpreted as more intimate than an immediate response.

  Weakness - examining vurtual relationships conducted in late 1990s and early 2000s. as technology is rapidly changing so nature of online relationship. Therefore research in this area risks becoming outdated by time it's published lowering temporal validity of research.
• Strength - research support for hyperpersonal model

  Whitty and Johnson found supporting evidence for both' hyperhonest' and 'hyperdishonest' online disclosures.

  E.g. questions asked in online discussions tend to be very direct, probing and intimate. Different to FtF conversations which are often hedged around with 'small talk'.

  Strength - central claim of model, which is that only we self-disclose in CMC relationships is designed to present ourselves in an exaggeratedly positive way aiding relationship formation
• Strength - social media has helped form friendships for shy people

  Baker and Oswald test whether shy people do benefit from interest use.

  surveyed 207 male and female students about their shyness, Facebook usage and quality of their friendships.

  for students who scored high for shyness, greater use of Facebook was associated wither higher perceptions of friendship quality (vice versa to low shyness)

  Strength - suggests through social media, shy people are able to overcome the barriers they face when trying to form relationships IRL.
• Weakness - virtual relationships in social media don't distinguish types of CMC

  level of self-disclosure varies considerably and its extent and depth depend on the type of CMC being used.

  people self-disclose more in their Facebook statuses and less on webforms that involve collection of data (Paine et al)