Facebook Makes the Heart Grow Fonder:
Relationship Maintenance Strategies
Among Geographically Dispersed and
Communication-Restricted Connections
Jessica Vitak
College of Information Studies
University of Maryland
jvitak@umd.edu | @jvitak
jessicavitak.com/cv
Credit: Norebbo
Credit: Photos_by_Lis
Why relationship maintenance matters
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But being near friends isn’t always easy…
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4
Ways to connect distant ties
What do we mean by
“distant,” anyway?
Letters (pen pals!)
Phone (landline, mobile,
texts)
Text-based CMC (email,
IM)
Video-based CMC (Skype,
Google Hangouts)
Social network sites
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“
I suspect that Facebook’s one great
contribution has been to slow down that
rate of relationship decay by allowing
us to keep in touch with friends over long
distances.
”
--Robin Dunbar (2011, p. 83)
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How are people using Facebook to maintain
relationships with different types of social ties?
Is Facebook merely a supplement to to other forms
of communication, or does it enhance relational
quality for certain types of relationship?
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Facebook Profile
Layout
October 2012
Participants were asked to
log into site, go to their
profile and select Friend in
top left position.
They entered name of
person into a survey field.
Questions were then
tailored to the selected
Friend (e.g., Closeness
item: “John and I have a
strong connection”).
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Why use this method?
 Major weakness of
relationship
maintenance research is
limited focus on strong
tie relationships.
 Many Facebook
relationships are weak
ties.
 Furthermore, many
Facebook relationships
span significant
geographic distance.
Dibble et al. (2012) Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale
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Reported Geographic Distance Between Friends
(estimated driving distance)
150
# of respondents
120
90
60
30
M=3.13 (2+ hour drive)
SD=2.05
0
<30 mins 30-60min
1-2hr
2-4hr
34% of
sample
4-6hr
6+hr
28% of
sample
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Weak ties who live
very far apart
Strong ties
who live
near each
other
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Facebook Relationship Maintenance
 Supportive Communication (7 items): behaviors signaling
social & emotional support; social grooming behaviors
 Shared Interests (7 items): interactions on site surrounding
shared likes, activities, etc. (e.g., TV show, sports team)
 Passive Consumption (4 items): browsing Friend’s content
without direct interaction
 Social Information Seeking (5 items): mundane
communication + discovering new things about Friend
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Facebook’s Impact on
Relational Quality
Two new measures assessed the extent to which Facebook
users felt their use of Facebook impacted their relationship
with a specific Friend:
1.Facebook’s Impact on Relational Closeness (5 items):
Facebook helps me understand (person’s name) better.
Facebook has positively impacted my relationship with (person’s name).
2.Facebook’s Impact on Relational Stability (4 items):
Without Facebook, (person’s name) and I would fall out of touch.
Facebook plays an important role in maintaining my relationship with
(person’s name).
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RQ1: Examining variance in communication
frequency based on geographic proximity
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Non-Facebook
Communication Frequency
T-tests with ANCOVAs controlling for relational closeness
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3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Face-to-Face Phone Calls
Facebook-Specific
Communication Frequency
*
*
Texting
Email
IM
Skype
*
*
*
*
Like Content
Comment
Visit Profile
Browse
Photos
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Nearby Friends
Private
Messages
Wall Posts
Far Away Friends
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* Statistically Significant Difference (t-test)
H1 & H2:
Geographic proximity, relationship
maintenance, & Facebook’s impact on
relational quality
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Extent to which they agreed with statements about
behaviors/outcomes (1-5 Likert type scale)
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3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
Supportive Shared Interests
Passive
Communication
Consumption
Nearby Friends
Far Away Friends
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Social
Information
Seeking
FB Impact on
Closeness
FB Impact on
Stability
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H3 & H4:
Facebook as primary form of communication,
relationship maintenance, & Facebook’s impact
on relational quality
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How do you operationalize
Facebook as the primary
form of communication
between a dyad?
 Want high engagement in
Facebook communication
(e.g., posting on wall,
commenting on updates) and
low engagement in all other
forms of communication
(e.g., face-to-face, phone,
email)
21.8% of
responses
 Final variable included
12.8% of participants with
TradComm scores below
2.25 & FBComm scores
above 3.
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Extent to which they agreed with statements about
behaviors/outcomes (1-5 Likert type scale)
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
Supportive Shared Interests
Passive
Communication
Consumption
Social
Information
Seeking
FB Impact on
Closeness
FB Impact on
Stability
Facebook is Not Primary Form of Communication
Facebook is Primary Form of Communication
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But what’s it all mean?
Use of Facebook for relationship maintenance—
and perceived relational benefits—vary by context
 Suggested supplemental role of Facebook for closer
(geographically & emotionally speaking) ties
 Potential for enhancing role for weaker connections
& keeping relationships from fading away
See Vitak (2012): Keeping
Connected in the Facebook
Age
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But what’s it all mean?
Facebook as a “virtual rolodex”
 Role of affordances
 Reduced transaction costs
 Benefits of masspersonal communication
Media multiplexity considerations
 Is Facebook one or multiple
communication channels?
 How do newer communication
technologies reshape our understanding of
media multiplexity?
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Credit: arahinvegas
#cscw2014 | @jvitak
Design Implications
Encourage interactions between users after a profile visit
Predicting Friends a user will want to interact with in the
future
Look at interaction patterns with mutual friends
Customize News Feed content
Focus on ways to not
be creepy when
encouraging interaction
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Thanks!
Jessica Vitak
University of Maryland’s iSchool
Email: jvitak@umd.edu | Twitter: @jvitak
Find this paper at jessicavitak.com/cv
This project was part of my dissertation research, so a big shout-out to my graduate advisor,
Nicole Ellison, for her Yoda-like wisdom on the project.
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