The Effects of Online Social Networking

¶ … internet has brought to the forefront communication via social networking sites. College students in particular enjoy communicating with friends and relatives via websites like Facebook or Twitter. In fact, current literature suggests that several factors go into deciding to socialize online. For example, younger college students tend to frequent Facebook more than they tend to older college students. Females outnumber males in relation to having Facebook accounts and communicating on Facebook from around 4:1 (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuhr, 2010). Furthermore, those that exhibit shyness tendencies are more than likely to use online social networks to interact with others whether they are in their community or long distance.

Online social networking sites have thus provided people from certain ages, gender, and proclivity, with the ability to engage with people of interest over a platform that is easy to access, the internet. However, can personal relationships grow online? Some literature suggests that it can because of the high quality of interaction between those that talk online. However, many recent studies show that countless college students are depressed, and because they are depressed, they go online and form relationships there versus via the traditional face-to-face interactions. "Depression is common and frequently undiagnosed among college students. Social networking sites are popular among college students and can include displayed depression references" (Moreno et al., 2011, p. 447).

The study continued by stating from the two hundred profiles observed and evaluated, the average age was 20 years with 43.5% of the sampled being female. Furthermore, a significant amount (25%) of the profiles showed depressive symptoms. 2.5% even met criteria for Major Depressive Episode or MDE. How they were able to determine this was the way they communicated with their friends. Their posts would give clues as to the possibility of their depression. Another key indicator was the frequent use of Facebook. The more a person used it, the more likely they would be depressed.

What was also interesting to note was the conclusion in that Facebook users that interacted with their friends and received reinforcement would actively discuss their problems with depression in public on Facebook. "College students commonly display symptoms consistent with depression on Facebook. Our findings suggest that those who receive online reinforcement from their friends are more likely to discuss their depressive symptoms publicly on Facebook" (Moreno et al., 2011, p. 447). This could mean two things. One is, the internet provides a refuge for depressed people to openly express their depression, helping to raise awareness and combat mental illness. Alternatively, it could enable actions that progress depressive symptoms such as constantly being online and expressing themselves only online.

People can and have gone online to express themselves when they cannot find any other way outside of online. This leads to perhaps further exploration of the self in a way that could damage someone long-term. Online relationships can be positive, but they can also be harmful as the "drama" that ensues from online relationships, especially romantic ones, can be aired out easily to the public and kept forever on the internet. Davies explores this in an article about personal relationships and the use of technology. "Once ephemeral and disembodied 'social dramas' now can become permanent digital records for all to revisit" (Davies, 2015, p. 279).

Teenagers, even kids as young as 12, post pictures on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook of their personal lives, especially of their significant other. Back then, when technology was still not as available, only famous people had issues with privacy. Now, any person can become the center of someone else's world by merely posting pictures of themselves and their friends/family/significant other. While some people do not mind, it also creates a platform in which other people can impersonate and lie, making their victims believe they are a different person.

That is another thing to examine. When technology is involved in personal relationships, what problems may arise? While most people talk online to those, they have already met in person (Stafford & Hillyer, 2015), some talk to people they have never met. The term "catfish" refers to a person impersonating another and then lying to give off the impression that the person is that other individual. MTV has a show called "Catfish" and people go on there to get a chance to see whom they were talking to for years. Many of these people are often depressed, some have no job, and some live with their parents or other relatives. This is not to say the majority of users are like this, but when examining the negative aspect of technology in personal relationships, it is not hard to make the connection between things like catfishing and depression.

Essentially, when it comes to the dark side of online social networking, people who exhibit symptoms of mental illness, will most likely express it in a platform free from restriction like online. There they can get what they believe is connection and support, increasing their confidence to explore their bad habits more. Although this may seem positive, it could produce situations of mistaken identity, enabling, and co-dependency. Few research articles highlight such effects.

What are the positives of using technology to cultivate personal relationships? As earlier mentioned, college students are found to use sites like Facebook more frequently than populations outside of that age range and occupation. College students go on Facebook because they perceive it as a useful tool in gathering social support. They can easily find and contact former friends and acquaintances and disclose their emotional status intimately.

Young people since they are moving out of their homes, not yet starting a family, require that sense of support and intimacy that takes time to build in the real world. There need for intimate moments, fuel their activity online. In article concerning intimacy and the use of Facebook by college students, they found college students feel more life satisfaction when they have larger audiences to display their emotion and thought to. "This finding indicates the transformation of the nature of intimacy in the environment of a social network site. In addition, larger networks and larger estimated audiences predicted higher levels of life satisfaction and perceived social support on Facebook" (Manago, Taylor & Greenfield, 2012, p. 369). These results highlight the psychological significance of audience within the Facebook environment.

It makes sense; college students in particular would use Facebook more than other populations. They can use it to network without having to deal with the pressure of speaking to another individual and they can build up a potential support system and platform. Many people have amassed thousands of followers on Facebook and Twitter that enabled them to create careers that require the viewership and attention of their established fan base. It is a great way to get one's foot in the door of a possible career path as well as allows for expansion of one's network.

Another positive that comes from online social networking is information/knowledge sharing. Sites like Facebook allow users to share their ideas and any interesting links and articles they may find. A recent study shows that social relationships improve the degree of knowledge sharing. "Study findings reveal that social relationships -- which include both the degree of centrality of the employee's social network and frequency of interpersonal interaction -- and employee contextual performance have a significant positive impact on knowledge sharing" (Peng, Quan, Zhang & Dubinsky, 2015, p. 58). When looking at personal relationships through the lens of acquaintances and business contacts, online social networking is a highly useful tool.