How we behave on social networking sites is a topic for discussion in a USA Today article by Sharon Jayson. Jayson says researchers are studying the effects of relationships we make online versus the ones we maintain offline.
A new twist on an old thesis? Could be. We've heard for years about Internet addictions and the like.
USA Today:
The interconnected web of our friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances may dominate our lives more than we know.
They've always been there, making up our social support systems. But now, largely thanks to the burgeoning popularity of online social networks like Facebook, researchers are discovering what a powerful influence our connections — both online and off — really have over our lives.
"Those of us who study social networks believe they matter — that things do spread along social networks," says Claude Fischer, a sociology professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
Because social networks online are much more clearly defined than offline connections, they have been a boon to researchers. And studies are finding that despite dire predictions from naysayers who warned that spending too much time online would be damaging to real-life relationships, the opposite appears to be true.
The findings, trickling in from early research, suggest health and psychological benefits for those who "friend" and are "friended." But as with all new media, critics say it's much too soon to know about all the possible long-term effects online social networking might have — from growing obesity and musculoskeletal problems to loss of privacy and overwhelming commercialism.
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E.C. :)
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