The Effects of Facebook Communication on Social Penetration Theory

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

In “The Limits of Friendship” by Maria Konnikova, social media has significantly changed the way we interact with friends and family. Everybody thinks that using social media is the best way to talk to friends and family, however, in my opinion, they are wrong because it doesn’t give you the face-to-face connections we need as humans for social interaction. On the other hand, the great thing about using social media is you can connect with more people, but in a superficial kind of way. Therefore, we do not get the face-to-face interactions with our friends and family. We, the people that are addicted to social media, learn that without face-to-face conversations we wouldn’t have a normal “social” life outside of social media. The question

A prevalent issue regarding social media and interactions exists between researchers and social network users. Social media is currently changing how relationships between people are created. Relationships can exist through people across the world through social media and can produce more emotional bonds with friends that you can see everyday. On the other hand, social media also could present conflicts due to the fact that some of these relationships can become unhealthy and that people could change to be more dependent on internet friends, becoming introverted.

This article could be useful in my research introduction proving background information to further support my hypothesis stating that passive Facebook use decreases social interaction and well-being.

Konnikova uses data gathered by scientists to show that as focus turns toward online friendships, people start to lose the number of meaningful real life relationships that they once had. She references the Dunbar number frequently. There are multiple stages to the Dunbar number but the largest is around one hundred and fifty. She defines this as, “people we call casual friends—the people, say, you’d invite to a large party” (236). This number was seen as the max number of friendships that someone could maintain. However, with social media, people have hundreds of friends. As people expand their range of friends, it is believed that they will lose time to interact with their real tangible friends. From this point of view it is viewed as a bad change.

Social media is in it 's prime. It is how everyone connects with their friends, family and anyone around the world. Facebook has become hugely popular especially with adolescents. In the article, Loneliness and Facebook Motives in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Inquiry into Directionality of Effect, research has investigated the relationship between Facebook use and adolescent loneliness. They researched 256 adolescents with the median age of 15 were examined to see how Facebook motives and two relationship-specific forms of adolescent loneliness were associated longitudinally. (Luyckx, Teppers, Goossens, Klimstra, 2014). Results reveal that peer-related loneliness relates over time to using Facebook, compensating their social skills, reduces isolation feeling, and engaging in interpersonal contact. While Facebook allows them to make new friends online, it is diminishing their actual social skills when it comes to real life contact.

Ellison et al believed that Facebook is a ‘rich site’ for research into the quality of relationships due its ‘heavy usage patterns’ and the mechanics of how it is more about offline to online relationships due the nature of the creation of the site, for university students to communicate. Facebook in incredibly different from other CMC as many users actually know most their ‘friends’ in real terms on the site.

Due to the growth of social networks, I have witnessed a change in my relationships with more of my family members and close friends. This growth is based from social networking sites, because I have been able to converse with them more frequently. Even the most distant relationships can be held together

The points of agreement are numerous. The author stated that Facebook makes people closer to each other all around the world. The

with the ability to see into the lives of people with whom we are not that close we began to feel as if we know this person more intimately than we really do. This perception of closeness hampers our ability to form true friendships with those around us. For the most part, when interacting on social media we only show the positive aspects of our lives, We hold back on the negatives and our perceived weakness(Bonanno, 2015). In real lives our friends see the good and the bad. These bonds formed through happy and sad emotional exchange with others form the base for the fabric that holds our society together. As we rely more and more on CMC to connect with the people in our lives the depth of our personal relationships become weaker(Keller, 2013, p.

The source concentrates more on the benefits of Facebook to young individuals. The source contains important information that explains how social media (Facebook) has improved social life especially among college students. However, the source fails to highlight and explain more about the harms and dangers of social networking

The purpose or hypothesis of this study addresses the anatomy of the Facebook network, communication behaviors and network composition, private messages and public communication, and the psychological implications of Facebook use.

Face to face relationships are very important because through contact we are getting live interaction, trust, honesty, and integrity. Face to face conversations are more positive and more reliable than friendships online. In cyber space you convers ate with friends but some will not acknowledge the friendship in public. Social media is slowly taking away from face to face relationships, because we contact our family and friends on the computer screen. We are typing while looking at the screen instead of seeing facial expressions. Therefore, we aren’t sure if they are interpreting what we are saying in a negative or positive way.

Relationships are like onions, they take time to open up and you have to peel layer by layer to get to the center. Life happens, people come and go and the relationships that are made happen over time. A relationship is built over prolonged exposure to someone and they do not happen over night. When you first meet a person most judge, they look at a person’s appearance, their behavior, and their overall attitude. But as time goes on and you get to know someone on a more personal level you learn whom he or she really is. This idea is called the social penetration theory. Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor established the social penetration theory in 1973. They created this theory to have a better understanding of intimate relationships between two people. The social penetration theory is important to the communication process because it looks at how relationships develop and how over time relationships evolve from where they stared by self-disclosure. With the social penetration theory as the main focus and with the support from communication studies, this paper is assessing the formation of new relationships.

Facebook, a social networking website, has changed the way people communicate with each other. A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Facebook has even changed our most personal and private conversations and how they are conducted around the world. Since the internet’s birth in 1983, this trend of online communication has been growing. Created in 2004, now registered with more than one billion participants, Facebook’s user numbers surpass even the top four social networking websites combined. According to Wikipedia statistics, Instagram has 300 million registered users, LinkedIn has 200 million users, Classmates.com has 50 million users, and Flickr has 32 million registered users. To be further convinced of the claim that Facebook indeed changes the way we communicate, you would only need to create your own Facebook account and start participating in their social networking experience. Technology and internet usage is fused into every aspect of our society including the style of communication. The launch of Facebook in 2006 also enabled other devices such as touch phones, interactive tablets, and even advanced cars with their own networking capabilities starting in 2007. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar company and is highly recognized for connecting more people than other networks. Facebook’s long-term success can be attributed to providing entertainment, world news, and