Social Media, CMC, and Relationship Satisfaction Research

Introduction: Technology and Human Relationships

Technology has changed humanity and the whole concept of human interaction in dramatic ways over the last few decades. What we have now is an internet revolution — an era of superior digital connectivity, where the internet shapes virtually every aspect of human life, from the acquisition of social capital to the maintenance of well-being and social status. Gone are the days when time and space limitations forced people to choose their friends and partners from their immediate environment; today, people can share their interests in many different ways and build relationships using a wide variety of online platforms.

Thanks to the influx of social media platforms such as Twitter, MySpace, Orkut, and Facebook, the development of relationships — both real-life and virtual — has become increasingly easy. Interpersonal and face-to-face interactions are not as significant as they were a few years ago; oratorical and charisma skills, once keystones in an individual's ability to interact, are no longer commonplace. It is easier, and perhaps more time-efficient, to add someone on Facebook than to invite them for a meal. The bottom line is that technology is changing us both emotionally and socially. However, even as we embrace this digitalization, there is a need to assess the current digital trend and examine how it could shape the future. How will people relate to each other in the near future? Or rather, should we allow computer-mediated communication (CMC) to take over face-to-face interactions entirely?

Social Media and Relationship Satisfaction

We can all appreciate the fact that communication is an integral part of society; it is evident that human beings cannot live in isolation. Utz and Beukeboom (2011) express that above everything else, communication seeks to achieve satisfaction. Satisfaction derived from communication is even more important in the case of online relationships because the parties do not interact physically (Shah, Shah & Sivitanides, 2012). In this case, the length and frequency of communication and the terminology used fundamentally determine the satisfaction of each partner and the extent to which the relationship is likely to grow. Satisfaction ultimately determines the outcome of a relationship, whether online or in real life.

Text messaging, Twitter, and Facebook are crucial aspects of the relationship cycle, especially for young people aged between fifteen and thirty-five — the target group for this study. This inquiry seeks to establish the relationship between social media use and relationship satisfaction; particularly, whether CMC is beneficial or detrimental to relationship satisfaction. Understanding this relationship is prudent because technology shows no signs of slowing down, and neither does the formation of relationships online. Such understanding would shed light on the likely future trends in relationship development.

After reviewing the existing literature, the researcher concludes that closeness and intimacy are key constructs of relationship maintenance and, by extension, relationship satisfaction. This inquiry aims to investigate how people within the target group manage their relationships through social media, and the extent to which they rely on these online platforms to achieve psychological intimacy and satisfaction. To accomplish this, the study will analyze — by way of case studies — the overall quality of CMC and the amount of time spent in such communication. The overriding aim is to identify the actual dialogue and content of computer-mediated communications and compare them to face-to-face interactions. Two research questions have been formulated in this regard:

RQ1: What is the overall quality of relationships based on CMC vis-à-vis face-to-face interactions?

This question aims to shed insight into how people develop and maintain their relationships while relying fully on computer-mediated communications, and to assess the likelihood of such relationships having the same level of satisfaction and quality as those based on face-to-face interaction.

RQ2: What is the relationship between the media platform used and the creation of intimacy and closeness in a relationship?

This question sheds insight into the forms of social media used, and assesses whether the intimacy, closeness, and satisfaction derived from a given method is a major determinant in the choice and selection of communication platforms. These two research questions will form the basis of the questionnaire used in data collection.

Research Methodology

The study adopted a constructivist approach, requiring the researcher to "debate back and forth his or her own understandings with those of the stakeholders and the literature to construct the most viable position possible" (Lloyd, 2007, p. 63). Such an approach was deemed appropriate because the study — seeking to shed insight into how people use social media to create meaning in their relationships — is expected to attract multiple constructions and ideologies. The researcher would therefore need to make use of observation, documentation, and interpretation techniques to understand these in a cohesive way and develop a viable position without influencing or manipulating participants (Klenke, 2008). Furthermore, the approach involves a significant degree of face-to-face interaction, observation, and note-taking, all of which minimize the danger of developing skewed interpretations and blind spots — hazards common in studies involving socially constructed phenomena such as this (Klenke, 2008; Lloyd, 2007; Lauckner, Paterson & Krupa, 2012).

The study focuses on how members of the target group interact with each other in their day-to-day lives. Two unstructured interviews will be conducted to enable the researcher to gather sufficient data on participant behavior. A case study approach will be used to increase the credibility of the findings. Glaser (2004) notes that case study reporting assists in the validation of socially constructed processes, particularly because it allows for the sampling and observation of many cases.

The constructivist approach incorporates the aspect of negotiation, yielding a dialectical and hermeneutic position that can serve as a basis for future research. However, it is not without limitations — findings based on it cannot be generalized to the entire population (Lloyd, 2004). Although this problem could be minimized by using a larger sample size, the cost and time constraints surrounding the inquiry do not permit any additions. Credibility will nonetheless be ensured through source scanning. Reputable sources, including books and peer-reviewed articles, will be used to provide meaningful answers to the research questions and ensure objective interpretation.

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