Perceived or Enacted? Receiving or Giving? The Implications of Facebook Interaction for Social Support

• In Event: 239 - Section on Communication and Information Technologies Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Support Systems: Communication and Collaboration

Abstract

Compared to the large number of studies on social networking sites (SNSs) and social capital, relatively fewer studies have focused on the social implication of SNSs for social support, which is of great significance to college students. This study tries to fill this gap by examining how Facebook interaction is related to different types of social support—perceived social support in general and enacted social support on Facebook, the latter of which includes both the process of receiving and giving social support on Facebook. A survey of college students at a large public university (N = 566) reveals that Facebook interaction is positively related to both aspects of enacted social support on Facebook—receiving and giving social support while it is not related to perceived social support in general. In addition, the two aspects of enacted social support on Facebook are not related to perceived social support. The results have practical implications for college students in terms of whether SNSs can serve as venues where they can gain different types of social support.

Authors

• Xiaoqian Li, University of Texas-Austin

• Wenhong Chen, University of Texas-Austin

• Pawel Popiel, University of Texas-Austin