Are Virtual Social Relationships independent from Reality?

Abstract

本篇論文廷續Wellman的想法，我們試著探討網上的社會網絡是否不同於網下的社會網絡，尤其對於一般的網際網路使用者而言，我們更感興趣瞭解其在網上和網下交朋友行為是否相同？從研究結果指出，一般而言，網下的互動型態和網上相似，並且我們發現，在網上情感連帶高頻率的互動者，其網下高情感網絡中心性也有較高的機率。這樣的發現並不能否定有一群「脫離現實」的網際網路使用者，但對於一般的使用者而言，虛擬世界的生活並沒有和真實世界太大的不同。

Following the thought of Wellman, we are trying to examine how social relationships within the cyber-community differ from those in the real world. For general internet users, we are also interested in whether their behavior of making friends on the internet is similar to that when off-line? In our findings, it would appear that a pair of friends has the same types of interactions when on the internet as those demonstrated in the real world. We also find that behind an on-line intimate tie with high interaction frequency, there exists a high probability of finding a person with a high degree of centrality within friendship networks in the real world. Our findings do not deny the possibility that there is a large group of ”disembodied” internet users. But for an average user, life in cyberspace is not in large contrast to their real daily life.