The Evolution of Social Ties in the Age of the Internet

本研究探讨了地理流动和通信（包括计算机媒介通信）对个人和工作关系的形成、维持和解除的影响，以及这些因素对人们从中获取社会资源的能力的影响。维持人际关系需要大量的时间和金钱投入。物理上的接近使建立人际关系更容易，而地理上的流动性则使人际关系处于危险之中。现在有大量的美国人使用因特网，通过电子邮件和其他服务进行人际交流。互联网可以潜在地减少地理位置对社会关系施加的限制。它还可能影响在线关系的质量。本研究旨在探讨使用互联网是否会改变社会关系的数量和质量，以及由此产生的社会支持。通过审查以不同方式（访问、电话、电子邮件和即时通讯）进行的交流的内容，它将有助于确定交流导致社会支持的机制。这项研究将同时引起关注社会和工作关系基础过程的社会科学家的兴趣，以及对互联网对社会生活影响感兴趣的更多应用研究人员和政策制定者的兴趣。

This research investigates the ways geographic mobility and communications, including computer-mediated communication, influence the formation, maintenance, and dissolution of personal and work relationships and the ways these factors influence people's ability to extract social resources from them. Maintaining personal relationships requires significant investment in time and money. Physical proximity makes building personal relationships easier, while geographic mobility puts relationships at risk. Large numbers of Americans are now using the Internet, with electronic mail and other services for interpersonal communication. The Internet can potentially reduce the constraints that geography imposes on social relationships. It may also influence the quality of relationships conducted online. This research examines whether use of Internet communication changes the number and quality of social relationships and the social support derived from them. By examining the content of communication conducted over different modalities (visits, phone calls, email and instant messaging), it will help identify the mechanisms through which communication leads to social support. The research will simultaneously be of interest to social scientists concerned with the basic processes underlying social and work relationships and to more applied researchers and policy makers interested in the impact of the Internet on social life.