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By: Mark White

SOCIAL MEDIA = STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS“This type of participation on a social network site is a critical

element of staying socially connected”

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SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS ARE WHERE WE GO TO HANGOUT“Just as they have done in parking lots and shopping malls, teens

gather in networked public spaces for a variety of purposes, including to negotiate identity, gossip, support one another, jockey for status, collaborate, share information, flirt, joke, and goof off. They go there to hang out”

ONLINE AND OFF-LINE ARE NOT SEPARATE WORLDS. THEY ARE SIMPLY DIFFERENT SETTINGS.“When teens are involved in friendship-driven practices, online

and offline are not separate worlds, they are simply different settings in which to gather with friends and peers”

TEENS WILL TYPICALLY LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA TO DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS“Facebook makes it easier to talk to people at school that you may

not see a lot of know very well”

MEETING NEW FRIENDS

“Social media theoretically allow teens to move beyond geographic restrictions and connect with new people”

Adding your college roommate online before actually meeting them is an example of how teens can connect with new people.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAN LEAD TO FRIENDSHIPS AND CONNECTIONS, HOWEVER IT CAN ALSO LEAD TO CYBER BULLYING AND DRAMA.“Teens use social meia to develop and maintain friendships, but

they also use them to seek attention and generate drama”

This is more common in teens in high school.

DELETING A FRIEND

“Generally, it is socially unacceptable to delete a friend one knows. When this is done, it is primarily after a fight or breakup. In these situations, the act of deletion is spiteful and intentionally designed to hurt the other person”

FRIEND REQUESTS: WHO TO ACCEPT OR DECLINE“Teens must determine their own boundaries

concerning whom to accept and whom to reject”

With “My Space” generally anyone is welcomed as a friend. Facebook however, has given users the power to choose who is on their contact list.

PRIVATIZED CONTENT

While searching for friends within a social network it is often that users won’t have their settings set at private. This ultimately gives other users access to private information which could be used wrongfully within the social network.

SOCIAL SCRIPT

Creating a dialog on social media is essential in ensuring a strong relationship. “Teens use different channels to reasure their friends that they are still thinking of them. So, while drama is common, teens actually spend much more time and effort trying to preserve harmony, reasure friends, and reaffirm relationships”

CONCLUSION

“While we see no indication that social media are changing the fundamental nature of these friendship practices, we do see differences in the intensity of engagement among peers, and conversely, in the relative alienation of parents and teachers from these social worlds. Youth continue to experience their teenage years as a time to immerse themselves in these peer-based statues negotiations and to develop their social and cultural identities in ways that are independent from their parents, and they are aided now in these practices by a new suite of communication tools”