Online relationships Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This study deals with the gathering of information regarding how interpersonal relationships are developed in the ephemeral media platforms. The role of self-disclosure plays a vital role in the interpersonal relationships that is formed in these platforms. Ephemeral media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook Stories and Instagram Stories will be the main focus, as these three are known major platforms in terms of ephemeral content. The use of Social Penetration Theory and Uncertainty Reduction helped in forming the survey used for the data gathering, and as well as the guide for the focus group discussion which this study conducted in order to get both a general and specific information regarding this research study. There were exactly 134 respondents who answered the survey, and two focus group discussions were conducted. The common themes, as well as the most used ephemeral media was observed and interpreted in the study.

- by and +1
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- Communication, Mass Communication, Social Media, Uncertainty Reduction

The aim of this study was to explore the dynamics of online romantic relationships, focusing on the maintenance of the relationship through online means to identify whether an online relationship can replace the need for an offline relationship by looking into their longevity, emotional impact and means of continuation. Through use of semi-structured interviews, five

- by Francesca Yeadon
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- Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Networks, Multiplayer Online Games

Vlogging on YouTube is a process of self-formation whereby a vlogger constructs and presents their identity in relationship with the platform, technology and all of its participants. I frame vlogging as Automedia — a process of being and becoming — forged through the merging of self with networked digital media. In order to understand this process, I argue the researcher must engage in the same activity of automediality. I detail my autoethnography on YouTube — my eighteen months of vlogging — and discuss the knowledge I gained from my experience of being and doing on the site. My autoethnography highlights the skill, labour and time involved in vlogging, the relational way that identity is formed and maintained on the site, the conscious and ongoing work of narrativising the self, and the vulnerable nature of automedial identities and narratives of this kind. I conclude that autoethnography is an essential part of an automedial investigation.

- by Ümit Kennedy
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- Autoethnography, Vulnerability, Presentation of Self in Digital Life, Youtube

This piece teases out the links between this special issue's key themes regarding performance and citizenship and the distinct realities of transitional democracies. This article looks at mobile media access in the Philippines and the kind of social intimacies that have emerged from it. To frame our discussion, we use the concept of 'glocal intimacies'. This pertains to how mobile technologies have normalised and intensified the entanglement of people's relationships of closeness with the ever-shifting and constantly negotiated flows between global modernity and local everyday life. We show that the uneven access that Filipinos have has led to equally uneven ways in which they imagine and enact intimate relationships. Drawing on case studies emblematic of the country's key income clusters, we point out the emergence of a contradictory situation, wherein those with relatively high-quality access are those who are least dependent on mobile media for their glocal intimacies. Meanwhile, those with relatively low-quality access are those who are actually most dependent on mobile-mediated communication for such intimacies.

- by Cecilia Uy-Tioco and +1
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- Digital Divide, Globalization, Digital Media, Mobile Media

Self-disclosure can facilitate the development and maintenance of online relationships but it also poses challenges — the overlapping of distinct social spheres and invisibility of audiences can make communication more complicated. The aim of this paper is to analyze the outcomes of this conflict between self-disclosure risks and benefits. Data from the Latvian online social networking/ online diary site Sviesta ciba suggest that self-disclosure and trust are associated with socially positive outcomes but the number of users' online connections does not depend on the level of their intimate self-disclosure. I argue that the site's users incorporate principles of " diffused intimacy " in their communication patterns, i.e. they accept risks that are associated with disclosing personal information to their audience in return for potentially facilitated communication and other social benefits. KEY WORDS self-disclosure –trust –intimacy –social networking sites –online diaries –online communication Researchers have long recognized the differences between online and offline communication and have identified communication patterns that are particularly characteristic of online communication. On the one hand, online communication is seen as less suitable for social relationships (Cummings – Butler – Kraut 2002; Mesch – Talmud 2006) because of the fragility of online interpersonal ties that can be formed as well as abandoned more easily. On the other hand, the online environment also provides a number of advantages: asynchronous communication and a lack of non-verbal cues allow better control of one's self-presentation. Individuals to rely heavily on their (often positive) expectations of one another, which, in turn, lead to positive feedback loops (Walther 1996). Kendall (2002), for example, notes that under such conditions, the interacting partners' personal interpretations of each other become more relevant, and individuals' desire to belong to a group, combined with their tendency to imagine the personal information that is missing, makes it easier to sustain relationships, lessen conflicts and improve group cohesion (p. 167). In this paper, I analyze other features of online communication: altered intimacy and self-disclosure, which can be used as vehicles that facilitate interaction, promote the formation of ties and help reduce communicative uncertainty.

In this paper, I will argue that embodied presence and ultimate commitments are not necessary for the authenticity of online relationships. In the first section, I will present Hubert Dreyfus's Kierkegaardian analysis of the Internet. In the second, I will show the different positions that disagree with Dreyfus. And finally, in the third, I will look into (1) the distinction between human to human and human to nonhuman online interactions, (2) the continuity or discontinuity of the online and the offline relationships of persons, and (3) the forms of the relationship that occurred. From that analysis, I will derive some cases that will show the inadequacies and problems of the conditions presented by Dreyfus.

- by Joseph Martin Jose
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- Authenticity, Social Media, Soren Kierkegaard, Existentialism

L’ampia diffusione che i social network e le tecnologie di rete stanno avendo anche nella costruzione di relazioni online pone una serie di interrogativi sulla natura dei nostri rapporti affettivi e romantici, su cosa ci aspettiamo da questi e su come si ripercuotono sulla nostra vita quotidiana. Attraverso due contributi della più recente cinematografia, Catfish (2010) e Her (2013), siamo invitati a riflettere su cosa significhi costruire un legame online con un altro essere umano o con una macchina dotata di intelligenza superiore. In uno scenario scevro da atteggiamenti tecnofili o tecnofobi, la riflessione sul ruolo che la tecnologia svolge nella nostra vita affettiva può contribuire ad accrescere la consapevolezza di chi siamo e di cosa vogliamo diventare.

- by Stefania Manca
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- Online social networks, Online relationships

This article looks at mobile media access in the Philippines and the kind of social intimacies that have emerged from it. To frame our discussion, we use the concept of ‘glocal intimacies’. This pertains to how mobile technologies have normalised and intensified the entanglement of people’s relationships of closeness with the ever-shifting and constantly negotiated flows between global modernity and local everyday life. We show that the uneven access that Filipinos have has led to equally uneven ways in which they imagine and enact intimate relationships. Drawing on case studies emblematic of the country’s key income clusters, we point out the emergence of a contradictory situation, wherein those with relatively high-quality access are those who are least dependent on mobile media for their glocal intimacies. Meanwhile, those with relatively low-quality access are those who are actually most dependent on mobile-mediated communication for such intimacies.

- by Cecilia Uy-Tioco
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- Digital Divide, Globalization, Digital Media, Mobile Media

This doctoral dissertation examines the activities in which individuāls engage on online social networking sites and evaluates their relationships and the significance of users’ offline contacts. a theoretical framework has been built upon the social capital theory, Goffman’s dramaturgical approach, Giddens’ concept of ‘pure relationships,’ and characterizations of online communities. empirical data were gathered through an online survey, thematic coding of online diary entries, social network analysis, online ethnographic observations, and semi-structured interviews. manifestations of social capital were evaluated on three social networking sites: sviesta ciba, draugiem.lv, and LiveJournal. The results show that the accumulation of social capital on these sites is uneven and is associated with the uses of these sites and individuals’ activities. However, for a part of users, social networking sites are a significant source of social capital. These sites were also analyzed as spaces for online communities. further attention was given to the online community of sviesta ciba which is characterized by a common knowledge base, ritualized communication, exchanges of different kinds of support, and attempts to engage in collective actions. The study analyzes the ‘diffused intimacy,’ an online relationship regime based on trust and self-disclosure. online social interactions that have been explored in the present research are characterized by altered conceptions of privacy and publicness.

- by Ianis Bucholtz
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- Interpersonal Communication, Social Networks, Online Communities, Social Capital

Livro a ser publicado brevemente. Deve estar nas bancas no final de fevereiro, o mais tardar durante março de 2015. Organizado por Guilhermina Lobato Miranda, conta com a participação de vários autores nacionais e internacionais que se têm debruçado sobre a utilização e influência da Internet e das redes sociais na psicologia das pessoas que usam estes dispositivos digitais e nos comportamentos adotados online. Dito por outras palavras, o que distingue e é comum nos comportamentos virtuais e presenciais e como se influenciam mutuamente.

- by Guilhermina Lobato Miranda and +2
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- Psychology, Emotion, Internet Studies, Cyberbullying

This paper presents an extract from a systematic international literature review research work funded by Laureate Online Education and aimed at detecting best practice in online doctoral students’ supervision. It was carried between March and July 2013 out by the authors of the paper, who have been working as online tutor and thesis supervisors at the University of Liverpool in the Online Professional Doctorate of Education (EdD)

This paper analyzes the manifestations of social capital in the Latvian online community/social networking site Sviesta ciba. Using data from a survey of Sviesta ciba users (N = 298) and semi-structured interviews, I analyze trust, social networks, and norms as the indicators of social capital on the site. Users of Sviesta ciba are able to engage in trust-based relationships; they exchange resources on a reciprocal basis; and their activities on the site are integrated within their wider social networks. The types of relationships that Sviesta ciba users have with their ‘friends’ is associated with a number of social activities on the site. However, weak-tie relationships and strong-tie relationships do not differ significantly regarding users’ engagement in exchanges of emotional or informational support. These findings have implications for the understanding and conceptualization of social capital and interpersonal relationships in online networked environments.

The AIDS epidemic has affected every aspect of Zambian society and is recognized as the greatest public health challenge of the past 30 years. Nevertheless, education can generate hope in the face of the epidemic using different methods , including social networks. This article investigates the positive and negative impacts of social networks on the spread of HIV at the University of Zambia (UNZA). The research study included survey-based oral interviews with 280 UNZA students. During the course of the study, we realized that efforts have been and are being put in place at UNZA to use online social networks to spread news about HIV and AIDS and how to stop its transmission. Findings showed that most participants felt that social networks hastened the spread of the virus among social media users. Despite social networks having a few positive effects, the results of our study indicate that the negative effects far outweigh the positive effects.

- by Paul Kakupa and +2
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- Higher Education, HIV and AIDS education, Social Networking & Social Media, Online relationships