A03

• There are many gates that limit relationship formation in the FTF world and the virtual world allows us to escape them and allow some individuals to form relationships more easily
• Research hasn't really considered that gates must differ between different groups of people for example, age and physical attractiveness are more significant gates for females than males
• Research has suffered from beta bias and oversimplified how gates are used in virtual relationships and therefore is less valid
• It would be valuable to know which gates matter most and which gates are most affected by virtual communication
• No being socially skilled, not having a computer and not being romantically successful go together and being socially skilled, having the internet and being romantically successful go together
• The absence of gates is just a bonus for people who already socially skilled but it does also suggest a practical application for using virtual relationships as a therapy for the socially inept to learn social skills, such therapy could also be used to help those with social phobias overcome their fears
• Absence of gating features in virtual relationships means that there's a much wider potential group of people to form relationships with people online as virtual relationships will, from the start, be focusing more upon common interests, attitudes etc rather than being limited by more superficial but dominant gating features
• A problem with the studies is that there aren't many and samples tend to be biased towards young
• Absence of gates may affect different generations differently and some of the effect seen may be cohort effects rather than attributable to computer-mediated communication
• Research that is based on a single social media platform will not be representative of all ages, ethnicities, incomes or personalities - users are self-selecting and so there's a limit to any conclusions we can reach from this research
• Cultural factors are important - Saudi Arabians have more to gain from the virtual world of relationship-formation because Saudi society has significant social, religious and political gates preventing the formation of FTF relationships
• There are vast, uncharted waters that still remain to be explored