Digital Relationships in the "MySpace" Generation: Results From a Qualitative Study

A qualitative study was conducted to explore how subjects use social networking sites and instant messenger to engage in interpersonal relationships. The results were used to develop a preliminary framework that models how attitudes towards privacy and impression management, when mediated by technology, translate into social interactions. This paper begins with a review of relevant literature, then describes the experimental design, summarizes the results, introduces the framework, and finishes with a discussion of conclusions and implications for future research. This paper describes the collection and analysis of qualitative data, and its use to inform a preliminary theoretical framework that can support future research into the design of systems that support social interactions