There's been quite a bit of research into many aspects of social media, and one of the factors brought out in the latest study asks whether online social media cuts through the constraints that limit the size of offline social networks.
Natural social network sizes are limited by a number of constraints, including what it describes as "servicing relationships." Obviously, it's easier to service relationships when they are social media, but, what the study tries to uncover is whether those "friends" are really friends, and whether there is a difference between online of offline friends. Does online social media actually give you more real friends than in the offline world.
It's an interesting study and worth a read if you're involved in social media, or whether you really want to know how many people you can rely on in a crisis.
Here's a snipped from the study.
The second main finding is that the two samples provide a direct test of whether online SNSs allow individuals to have larger social networks than is possible offline because SNSs allow one or more of the constraints that limit offline social network size to be circumvented. The results clearly suggest that they do not. Study: Does Social Media Really Give You More "Friends?" [rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org]
The fact that social networks remain about the same size despite the communication opportunities provided by social media suggests that the constraints that limit face-to-face networks are not fully circumvented by online environments. Instead, it seems that online social networks remain subject to the same cognitive demands of maintaining relationships that limit offline friendships.
