Online and Offline Networks: Emerging Adults’ Use of Social Networking Sites

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

Social networking sites (e.g., MySpace and Facebook) are popular online communication forms among adolescents and emerging adults. Yet little is known about young people's activities on these sites and how their networks of "friends" relate to their other online (e.g., instant messaging) and offline networks. In this study, college students responded, in person and online, to questions about their online activities and closest friends in three contexts: social networking sites, instant messaging, and face-to-face. Results showed that participants often used the Internet, especially social networking sites, to connect and reconnect with friends and family members. Hence, there was overlap between participants' online and offline networks. However, the overlap was imperfect; the pattern suggested that emerging adults may use different online contexts to strengthen different aspects of their offline connections. Information from this survey is relevant to concerns about young people's life online. (Contains 4 figures and 5 tables.)

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume

29

Issue

6

First Page

420

Last Page

433

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.appdev.2008.07.003

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