Sunday, November 15, 2009

The topics of breadth and depth have come up repeatedly.  That is because these two terms are so important and the central foundation to the Social Penetration Theory.  Just as in real life, breadth and depth works the same in online social networks such as Facebook.  Greater breadth of self-disclosure will predict greater depth of self-disclosure (Craig).  Likewise, the revelation of breadth and depth lead to predictions of a user’s Facebook friends’ behaviors.  Along with greater predictability comes greater interdependence (Craig).  Think of your closest Facebook friends.  How often do you visit their page or view their photos?  Do you know ever time they have updated the smallest thing on their page?  With Facebook being a relatively new phenomenon, it will be interesting to see additional research on relationships, especially romantic, conducted about it in the years to come.

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