Research

Personal boundaries have always been difficult to define and with the influx of social networking websites, it has become even more difficult. Facebook, a popular social networking website, allows its users share and access information in an extremely public manner. With this information so readily accessible it is easy for the reality of social networking websites to overpower the reality of “real” life. It is this breakdown in personal relationships that allows Facelife to apply social networking methods to in-person conversations in order to see if personal boundaries still exist or if the influence of the digital world has been so great that those personal boundaries no longer exist.

According to a survey taken in Britain, about 6 percent of the broadband Internet users admitted to spending more than 10 hours a week online social networking (More Face Than Reality). That is equivalent to 24 days in a year. From that same survey, the users admitted to only spending a total of 22 days actually spending face to face time with friends and relatives. Women, at 56 percent, use the social networking websites more than men, at just 46 percent. Additionally, 75 percent of those visiting social networking websites are between the ages of 18 and 29. Another survey found that using Facebook was the second most popular activity for United States college students, with only listening to the iPod being the most favorite (Patterson). So contrary to popular belief, it is not merely adolescents that are using social networking websites but a larger population.

According to Dr. Steve Hodgkinson of Ovum Research, “At the heart of social networking is a desire to interact with people you know or introduced to by people you know, rather than to interact with the anonymous general population of Internet users” (Khalili). It is not the novelty of social networking websites that keep people coming back to them, it is the opportunity to communicate and interact with people that you know personally or by association. Typically, a user has something in common with the people that they are linked to on the social networking site. This allows people to create networks based on a trust that may not exist with real-world barriers that typically take place in face to face relationships.

There are signs that users of social networking websites can become addictive and that can drastically affect their face-to-face relationships. Julian Cole, a researcher at Monash University, many addicts start because of boredom and that diversion becomes a daily routine. Additional warning signs, according to Cole, can include frequent checking of social networking pages, staying online longer than was intended, scheduling life around social networking websites, and feeling negative psychological or physical effects when not being able to access social networking websites.

The premise of our experiment is that social networking websites have affected personal relationships to the extent that when a person uses a face-to-face conversation in the same manner that is considered acceptable on Facebook it is then considered out of the norm for “analog” or face-to-face relationships. When creating a “digital” friendship on Facebook, a user will send a friend request to another user in order to establish a “link” of “friendship.” This request can either be accepted or ignored. The user that has sent the request is not informed if the requested has denied the invitation. When a user removes someone from their “friends” the person who has been removed is not informed that they are no longer “friends” with the user. This makes ending a “digital” relationship easier for the user. In fact, it makes the user able to avoid any confrontation at all. In this experiment, a person of the research team asks a student on campus if they will be the requestor’s friend. This is out of a normal social context of establishing friendship in “analog” life, but is necessary in order to provide contact on a social networking website. If at any time during the experiment, the requested asks two question in response to a question asked by the research team, the experiment ended immediately and the results were recorded.

When a friend request is accepted on Facebook, both user’s pictures are posted on their “friends” page for other “friends” to see. When given proper permissions are established by the user, people that are “friends” of their “friends” can access the information that the user has posted on their page. For the sake of the experiment, the research team asks the people that have accepted the “friend request” if they can take their picture. It is at this point that we first see a hesitation from some of the requested. Commonly, the new “friend” wants to know why the picture is being taken. For some, this is merely curiosity, but for others it seems to encroach on what the “friend” finds acceptable in regards to personal privacy. This leads to the question that if it is acceptable to share their images online, why do the “friends” feel uncomfortable sharing their image with someone they have meet in an “analog” situation?

The third step in the experiment was a Facebook action that is used by an application designed specifically for Facebook. “Flair” is an application available on Facebook that allows a “friend” to give another “friend” a “piece of flair.” The flair is very similar to a button that may be pinned on clothing or other object. Flair must be accepted in order for the flair to be viewed on a user’s Facebook page. During the experiment, flair was offered to the participants to either be accepted or not. If the requested declines the flair, the experiment would end at that time. While in a real Facebook situation, this would not be a deciding factor in continuing the “digital” friendship, but in order to see how accepting people are in taking “digital” actions in an “analog” situation it was necessary to establish controlled actions of the requestor in order for the steps of the experiment to be consistent. Once again, the two question limit was enforced and the experiment was ended with the second question.

On Facebook, it is not uncommon to receive event invitations from “friends” that can vary from birthday parties, sporting events, and other social functions. For the fourth step, a verbal invitation was extended to the “friend” to attend a function that the research team would be attending. While a simple answer of yes or no was required, it was common for the requested to ask many questions about the event or even come up with a reason that their attendance would not be possible. In this situation, two questions from the requested would immediately end the experiment.

For those participants that had completed the experiment to the conclusion of step four, an appearance at the designated event must be made in order for the experiment to be complete. This is also similar to event invitations sent on Facebook. There is absolutely no guarantee if the invited people will actually attend the event. Since the “analog” friends have no idea that this was a social experiment, they will not know that they have been part of that experiment unless they attend the function that they were invited to.

Over the process of the experiment, the research team had concerns raised about the amount of personal information that social networking website users routinely share on the Internet but become more cautious in a real-life situation. This brings to attention the safety and security of social networking website users. Cyberstalking is no longer limited to people with extensive computer knowledge. An average Internet user can obtain personal information just by accessing social networking websites that they belong to. Though membership is almost always required in order to view user information, it is not difficult to establish an account on these websites. Until recently, Facebook required enrollment in an educational institution in order for membership to be established. Other restrictions have been put in place by social networking websites but can easily be avoided. While the information requested by social networking websites for membership may not seem intrusive, the information is also used by advertisers in order to pinpoint their markets. The benefits to the users appear to outweigh the information that the user is forced to provide.

Social networking may even be affecting relationships that haven’t even begun. It is possible to obtain information about a person without their knowledge before dating even begins. No longer are there the days of getting to know someone through conversation and time spent together. Social networking users can now know everything about their acquaintances without actually having to meet.

The repercussions that personal relationships have felt from social networking websites still remains to be seen. This research team has concluded that a long-term study would be needed in order for the most accurate results to be obtained on the social impacts of digital relationships.