virtual relationships in social media

• what is the term for self-disclosure on a public domain and who came up with it to distinguish between self disclosure in a romantic relationship?

  • broadcasting self-disclosure
  • Jourard
• state the basic facts on how people self disclose online

  • Jourard says people present an edited version of themselves
  • feel more secure about disclosing intimately in private (eg dm) because of the increased control over disclosing to a selected individual
  • when people are disclosing in more visible ways, they are more selective over the content, revealing less private and intimate info eg an instagram page
• why do people disclose more on the Internet

  • anonymity- people confident that disclosure will remain confidential and will not reach mutual acquaintances
  • danger of self-disclosure face-to-face is this is that confidentiality could be breached, or person may face ridicule/rejection
  • anonymity online reduces these risks because people can share private things with less fear of disapproval
  • "strangers on a train" phenomenon- Rubin- more likely to disclose private info to people we don't know and may never see again
  • stranger doesn't have access to a person's social circle so confidentiality is less of an issue
• what is gating?

  using available features such as attractiveness, age/ethnicity to categorise partners before making decisions on whether or not we would like a relationship with that person
• true or false? gating is a factor of online relationships

  FALSE- in online rels there is an absence of gates that normally limit the more shy and less socially skilled from forming rels
• what are the consequences of the absence of gating?

  • no gating, relationships more likely to take off
  • person's true self more likely to be active in online rels than face-to-face
  • Zhao et al- social networks empower people to present identities they hope to establish but can't face-to-face because of the absence of gating
  • people project a version of themselves that is more socially desirable
• evaluation of virtual relationships?

  • 😊Rosenfeld and Thomas- 4000 US adults, people with internet at home more likely to be partnered. Internet can displace rather than complement traditional ways of meeting a romantic partner
  • 😊virtual rels can be as strong as offline ones- Rosenfeld and Thomas found no difference between quality of offline and online rels in their research
  • ☹️virtual rels = superficial- Putnam- nature of internet communication means it can only lead to superficial rels without the same richness as face-to-face interactions- depletes social skills in reality
  • ☹️ethical issues/SSR with regards to this - research into people's personal social media lives- breaches confidentiality/privacy, Rosenfeld and Thomas concluding people without internet less likely partnered- puts certain ppl in worse light than others