From Relationship to Information

Author(s):  
Chen Yang ◽  
Louisa Ha ◽  
Gi Woong Yun ◽  
Lanming Chen

By measuring social media users' online activities in terms of information broadcasting, information seeking and relational maintenance, this chapter aimed at investigating how college students' SNS usage patterns may affect their online social network sizes. Statistics in this chapter suggested that more information seeking leads to more Twitter followings while more information broadcasting results in a larger size of Twitter followers. The frequency of relationship management, however, did not predict students' social network size on either Twitter or Facebook. Implications of the study were discussed.

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1732) ◽  
pp. 1327-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kanai ◽  
B. Bahrami ◽  
R. Roylance ◽  
G. Rees

The increasing ubiquity of web-based social networking services is a striking feature of modern human society. The degree to which individuals participate in these networks varies substantially for reasons that are unclear. Here, we show a biological basis for such variability by demonstrating that quantitative variation in the number of friends an individual declares on a web-based social networking service reliably predicted grey matter density in the right superior temporal sulcus, left middle temporal gyrus and entorhinal cortex. Such regions have been previously implicated in social perception and associative memory, respectively. We further show that variability in the size of such online friendship networks was significantly correlated with the size of more intimate real-world social groups. However, the brain regions we identified were specifically associated with online social network size, whereas the grey matter density of the amygdala was correlated both with online and real-world social network sizes. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the size of an individual's online social network is closely linked to focal brain structure implicated in social cognition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Lim ◽  
Clement Lau ◽  
Norman P. Li

Existing meta-analyses have shown that the relationship between social media use and self-esteem is negative, but at very small effect sizes, suggesting the presence of moderators that change the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. Employing principles from social comparison and evolutionary mismatch theories, we propose that the social network sizes one has on social media play a key role in the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. In our study (N = 123), we showed that social media use was negatively related to self-esteem, but only when their social network size was within an evolutionarily familiar level. Social media use was not related to self-esteem when people’s social networks were at evolutionarily novel sizes. The data supported both social comparison and evolutionary mismatch theories and elucidated the small effect size found for the relationship between social media use and self-esteem in current literature. More critically, the findings of this study highlight the need to consider evolutionarily novel stimuli that are present on social media to better understand the behaviors of people in this social environment.


Author(s):  
Wesley Monroe Shrum ◽  
Jonathan Teye Yevuyibor ◽  
Shriya Thakkar

Prior research has shown that mental health in urban slums is associated with the a share number of older individuals in personal networks. This presentation will examine the extent to which that association is mediated through Internet and social media use. We conducted face to face interviews with residents (minimum 18 years) in two high density, low income areas of Accra (West Africa) and Trivandrum (Kerala, India), where local teams have conducted repeated studies of personal networks since 1994. Our preliminary results show that mobile phones are primary way in which respondents communicate with members of their core networks. Further preliminary results show that while research in high income areas has generally shown the importance of larger networks for positive mental health, our analysis of urban slums reveals a different pattern. First, there is no general association of larger networks with reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Second, one particular group of relationships is strongly associated with depression and anxiety: ties with older individuals. The questions we explore are: (1) To what extent are indicators of mental health related to indicators of Internet and social media usage? (2) To what extent are indicators of mental health related to indicators of social network size and composition? (3) To what extent are indicators of Internet and social media usage related to indicators of indicators of social network size and composition?


Author(s):  
Chiungjung Huang

This meta-analysis examines the correlations of the number of social network site (SNS) friends with well-being and distress, based on 90 articles consisting of 98 independent samples on correlations of online social network size (OSNS) with happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, combined anxiety and depression, loneliness, social anxiety, social loneliness, well-being and distress. The correlations between OSNS and well-being indicators are positively weak (from .06 to .15), whereas those for distress indicators are inconclusive (from -.19 to .08). Studies recording the OSNS based on the participant profile have larger mean effect sizes for well-being (.21) and self-esteem (.31) than those based on self-reporting (.06 and .05, respectively). The correlation between OSNS and self-esteem is stronger in samples with a smaller mean network size.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
IMRAN ANWAR MIR

ABSTRACT Social media has produced substantial changes in the communication landscape. Online social network sites (SNS) grew as a common platform for online social interaction. SNS firms generate revenue from the advertising appearing on SNS. Their survival depends on users’ approval of such social network advertising (SNA). Marketing literature indicates that users accept advertising if it is consistent with their motivations for using social media. Information seeking is the most recognized SNS motivation. Yet, research on evaluating the influence of SNS information motivation on users’ approval of SNA is scarce. Based on SNS uses and gratifications theory, this study proposes a multidimensional model that shows the influence of SNS information motivation on users’ approval of SNA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas V. Pollet ◽  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar

Previous studies showed that extraversion influences social network size. However, it is unclear how extraversion affects the size of different layers of the network, and how extraversion relates to the emotional intensity of social relationships. We examined the relationships between extraversion, network size, and emotional closeness for 117 individuals. The results demonstrated that extraverts had larger networks at every layer (support clique, sympathy group, outer layer). The results were robust and were not attributable to potential confounds such as sex, though they were modest in size (raw correlations between extraversion and size of network layer, .20 < r < .23). However, extraverts were not emotionally closer to individuals in their network, even after controlling for network size. These results highlight the importance of considering not just social network size in relation to personality, but also the quality of relationships with network members.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098525
Author(s):  
Balazs Kovacs ◽  
Nicholas Caplan ◽  
Samuel Grob ◽  
Marissa King

We utilize longitudinal social network data collected pre–COVID-19 in June 2019 and compare them with data collected in the midst of COVID in June 2020. We find significant decreases in network density and global network size following a period of profound social isolation. While there is an overall increase in loneliness during this era, certain social network characteristics of individuals are associated with smaller increases in loneliness. Specifically, we find that people with fewer than five “very close” relationships report increases in loneliness. We further find that face-to-face interactions, as well as the duration and frequency of interactions with very close ties, are associated with smaller increases in loneliness during the pandemic. We also report on factors that do not moderate the effect of social isolation on perceived loneliness, such as gender, age, or overall social network size.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petter Bae Brandtzaeg ◽  
Asbjørn Følstad

This special issue on "Social media use and innovations" of the Journal of Media Innovation provides an engaging view into innovative uses of social media as well as approaches for utilizing social media in innovation.  With three papers included, we cover experiences with an online social network for children (Stephanie Valentine and Tracy Hammond), design by youth for youth in projects on social media for civic engagement (Henry Mainsah, Petter Bae Brandtzaeg, and Asbjørn Følstad), and social platforms for corporate and community innovation (Marika Lüders).


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