Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults

☆ Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Stephanie M. Reich, Natalia Waechter, Guadalupe Espinoza
(2008)

Introduction

The article Online and Offline Social Networks: Use of Social Networking Sites by Emerging Adults (Subramanian, Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008) states that social networks (e.g. Facebook) have millions of users which are mostly young adults and adolescents. The article aspires to study how young adults use social networks for communication and their link these adults online and offline activities.

Literature Review

Young adults tend to use the Internet for communication with peers more than any other population group (Clark, Frith, & Demi, 2004; Gemmill & Peterson, 2006; Jones, 2002). According to Byam (1995), McKenna & Bargh (2000), and Turkle (1995), the online environment allow users to present themselves differently than offline, but the authors propose that online and offline networks are connected, in other words they are complementary to one another. Further research shows that adolescents use instant messaging to stay in touch about school, gossip, and maintain friendships. Girls use social networks to make plans with friends where as boys tend to use these networks to meet new people or flirt online. One interesting fact is that bullies in real-life transfer into cyber bullies online. Online contexts (e.g. chats, social networks) have been reported to have adolescents reach out for advice or report concerns, in topics such as identity, sexuality, establishing intimate relationships and romantic partners. Moreover, these adolescents use blogs as an extension of their offline lives.
The studies that have been conducted of young adults demonstrate that their might also be a connection between their online and offline worlds. Research indicates that the excessive use of internet by this population may be due to establishing new relationships and shaping identity (Anderson, 2001). Further research indicates that multiple networks, such as text/talk and social networks overlap in the majority of their contacts. Social networks have become online tools for staying in touch, spreading the news, and planning events. The authors feel that two important developments that occur from adolescent to young adult are shaping of identity (e.g. career, religion, and ethnicity) and building intimacy, especially for those in western worlds. In this time period they try to build intimacy with friends, partners, and family. Of importance to this paper are non-romantic connections that help reduce stress in college students. They use online activities to reach out, although these relationships mirror their offline relationships.
Research has shown that Facebook is mostly used my young adults to maintain high school relationships, people who they have met in/out of school, and to communicate with those who are part of their current offline life."Facebook use was related to all three kinds of perceived social capital — bridging social capital, which consists of the resources that stem from one's weaker ties, bonding social capital, which consists of the resources that stem from one's more intimate ties, and maintained social capital, which consists of the resources that stem from one's prior ties " (p.422). Subrahmanyam et al. anticipate that young adults "would use social networking sites to promote social interaction and reinforce important offline relationships, demonstrating that for them, technology is a tool for supporting interpersonal connections" (p.422). However, they think the more intensive users of online tools would have less overlap among offline connections.

Method

The final number of participants was 110 (55 male/55 female) and they were between the ages of 18-29. These participants were from a Psychology poll at a large university in Los Angeles, CA who were of diverse and the ethnicity reflected that of the city. The subset of 81 students was used to analyze network overlap. Participant completion and subset is as follows:
Retained for laboratory survey questions
5 of 110 did not complete the online
survey
3 of 110 did not report their networks
accurately Link offline to online world
105 of 110 reported provided names of face-face friends
46 of 105 did not use instant messaging
23 of 105 did not use social networking
81 of 105 listed first and last names of online friends
A lab survey was developed a survey about demographics, use of social networks, reason of using social networks, and how they decide who to add or delete from their social network. Students with social networks pages reported how the sites affected their relationships. The participants who did not have sites were asked how they felt to not use one. For the lab survey, participants reported 10 people they have a lot of contact with in their offline activities and then they did the same for their online survey. The online survey further asked to report offline and online activities that day, including their social networking activities and interactions with via instant messaging and on social networking sites. The two surveys combined showed participants listed up to 30 people they have the most contact in online and offline contexts
Students were informed about the project and they signed a consent form. They then completed the lab survey (20-30min), and they were sent an email link for the online survey (15–20 min) to complete the same day. The researchers constructed a 2 × 2 × 2 table for each participant to calculate percentages of overlap between online and offline relationships.

Discussion

The results supported the researchers’ hypothesis that the participants social networking and offline activities overlap. By using the online sites they perceive they are maintaining interconnections and establishing intimate relationships with their contacts.

Response

This study is not in relation to language learning. The study focuses on seeing what young adults are doing online to build or maintain relationships and how this task is correlated to their offline relationships. The study showed, as the authors thought, the majority of the young adults had the same main contacts online and offline. In terms of language learning this can show us that it may be difficult to use social networks or instant messaging for students to practice a second language. It would be difficult because the students typically do this interaction with people they know and have ongoing conversations that move from the offline domain to the online domain. However, building a network of contacts in their classroom may be a way to transfer relevant relationships to an online domain. Based on the article, I think it is very important when teaching a second language through a social network or chat environment to give students guidelines and topics that make the experience relevant and useful to their real lives. Moreover, I think that cultural factors and practices may come through in online environments where students may lack access in their offline worlds.