As parents invade Facebook, teens tweet more

Social Media as More Than a Peer Space: College Freshmen Encountering Parents on Facebook

Social networking sites, first embraced by youth, have become increasingly popular among older generations. With more parents joining the sites, young people today are likely to encounter their parents on these platforms. However, there is limited information about how youth respond to the changing landscape, especially during the transition to a residential college, when parental support is particularly important but parent-child interaction may be disrupted by geographical distance. Drawing on literature of college transition, youth’s relationship with parents, and “context collapse,” this study explores how college freshmen react to parents’ participation in Facebook. Fifty-one semistructured interviews were conducted with 28 first-year students attending a major residential U.S. university (age M = 18.14, SD = 0.45; 50% female; 75% White, 11% multiethnic, 7% Asian, and 7% Latino). Findings showed that college freshmen overwhelmingly accepted parents and family adults as their Facebook Friends and offered them equal access as that offered to peers. Facebook provided a space for college freshmen and parents to bond and express affections, although freshmen sometimes considered family adults as being overresponsive or overreactive to Facebook posts. The implications of “friending” parents on Facebook for college freshmen’s privacy negotiation, parent-child relationship, and identity development are discussed.

Differences Between People Who Use Only Facebook And Those Who Use Facebook Plus Twitter

Facebook (FB) and Twitter are popular social networking sites. This study examined differences between those who use both sites versus only FB, to test the hypothesis that mono-users differ in their personality characteristics from users active in both websites. Participants were 205 undergraduate students; 96 only used FB, 109 used FB and Twitter. Participants who used both sites reported significantly lower loneliness, higher number of FB friends, and lower number of minutes spent online, as compared to those who only used FB. Loneliness was positively associated with FB use only in those who used FB alone, but was negatively associated with and negatively predicted both FB and Twitter use in those who used both websites. Findings suggest that more intense use of online interactions is more frequently found in mono-users (people using only Facebook) as compared to those using both websites, and it is predicted by increased feelings of loneliness. The current study findings provide additional insights on what personality factors may make some people prone to excessive use of social networking sites.

Social networking sites in romantic relationships: attachment, uncertainty, and partner surveillance on facebook

Social networking sites serve as both a source of information and a source of tension between romantic partners. Previous studies have investigated the use of Facebook for monitoring former and current romantic partners, but why certain individuals engage in this behavior has not been fully explained. College students (N=328) participated in an online survey that examined two potential explanatory variables for interpersonal electronic surveillance (IES) of romantic partners: attachment style and relational uncertainty. Attachment style predicted both uncertainty and IES, with preoccupieds and fearfuls reporting the highest levels. Uncertainty did not predict IES, however. Future directions for research on romantic relationships and online surveillance are explored.