Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships

We investigated associations between online and offline socialising and groups of social ties as postulated by the Social Brain Hypothesis (SBH). An online survey of social media use, social satisfaction and loneliness generated 249 complete responses from a sample of staff and students at the Unive...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sutcliffe, A, Binder, J, Dunbar, R
Format: Journal article
Published: Elsevier 2018
_version_ 1826260861375741952
author Sutcliffe, A
Binder, J
Dunbar, R
author_facet Sutcliffe, A
Binder, J
Dunbar, R
author_sort Sutcliffe, A
collection OXFORD
description We investigated associations between online and offline socialising and groups of social ties as postulated by the Social Brain Hypothesis (SBH). An online survey of social media use, social satisfaction and loneliness generated 249 complete responses from a sample of staff and students at the University of Manchester. Regression-based analyses showed that offline social activities and social time were positively associated with size of a core support group and social satisfaction. In contrast, social media time was positively associated with social satisfaction and the size of the total network, while the number of online contacts was positively related to social satisfaction, size of a wider sympathy group and total network size. No effect for loneliness was found. The number of ties reported for each SBH group was similar to that in previous studies. The more intimate support group (∼5) appears to be more closely connected with offline social activities, whereas social media use and contacts influence the less intimate sympathy group (∼15) and total network (∼150). These findings provide further support for functional differences between different layers of closeness in personal networks, and they help us in further defining the boundaries of relationship enhancement via communication technology.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T19:12:26Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:1737fd44-efb4-400c-9faa-fc5aec4ac4c8
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T19:12:26Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:1737fd44-efb4-400c-9faa-fc5aec4ac4c82022-03-26T10:35:56ZActivity in social media and intimacy in social relationshipsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:1737fd44-efb4-400c-9faa-fc5aec4ac4c8Symplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2018Sutcliffe, ABinder, JDunbar, RWe investigated associations between online and offline socialising and groups of social ties as postulated by the Social Brain Hypothesis (SBH). An online survey of social media use, social satisfaction and loneliness generated 249 complete responses from a sample of staff and students at the University of Manchester. Regression-based analyses showed that offline social activities and social time were positively associated with size of a core support group and social satisfaction. In contrast, social media time was positively associated with social satisfaction and the size of the total network, while the number of online contacts was positively related to social satisfaction, size of a wider sympathy group and total network size. No effect for loneliness was found. The number of ties reported for each SBH group was similar to that in previous studies. The more intimate support group (∼5) appears to be more closely connected with offline social activities, whereas social media use and contacts influence the less intimate sympathy group (∼15) and total network (∼150). These findings provide further support for functional differences between different layers of closeness in personal networks, and they help us in further defining the boundaries of relationship enhancement via communication technology.
spellingShingle Sutcliffe, A
Binder, J
Dunbar, R
Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title_full Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title_fullStr Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title_full_unstemmed Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title_short Activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
title_sort activity in social media and intimacy in social relationships
work_keys_str_mv AT sutcliffea activityinsocialmediaandintimacyinsocialrelationships
AT binderj activityinsocialmediaandintimacyinsocialrelationships
AT dunbarr activityinsocialmediaandintimacyinsocialrelationships