Check out How the Social Web Destroys Traditional Marketing - Articles - Baekdal.com

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(Internet) Age Old question: Internet relationships...better?

Indeed, a question as old as the first transmission of the first data bytes between computer terminals: can relationships be built, and sustained via digital interaction?

In a study₍₁₎ on communication apprehension (the tendency to become nervous in face-to-face interaction), researchers Michelle Mazur and Ryan Burns studied how communication apprehension either increases or decreases when people "meet" online. The study examined people who had met their romantic partners online, and measured their general level of communication apprehension, introversion (shyness), and interdependence (how connected they were with their partners).

The study revealed that among the people who were generally apprehensive about communicating face-to-face, their relationships online had a high level of interdependence. Among people who are more shy, their online relationships were not particularly interdependent; these type of people tend to maintain independence within their relationships in general.

So what's the point? Of course the debate continues, even among scholars, whether or not relationships between people are affected by the increasing amount of time spent communicating online (and by extension, other modes), versus face-to-face contact--the jury's still out on that one! But what we are definitely sure of is that people are initiating and maintaining relationships using online channels.

Might be important to consider the next time you see a hot person online that "in real life" you might be interested in!




_{1. "Perceptions of Relational Interdependence in Online Relationships: The Effects of Communication Apprehension and Introversion. Communicaiton Research17(4), 2000.}