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We might be missing the point here by focusing on romantic relationships. The fact that people make fewer posts on Facebook as they become closer might mean so
by hawkharris 13y ago
We might be missing the point here by focusing on romantic relationships.
The fact that people make fewer posts on Facebook as they become closer might mean something, in general, about the kinds of relationships that Facebook sustains.
Facebook is the modern equivalent of a Christmas card...It's a way of maintaining surface-level contact with many people: letting them know that you care...but you don't necessarily care enough to catch up through a more direct and personal medium.
Communicating with your closest friends or your partner mainly through a Christmas card would be silly, in my opinion; we tend to choose less distant methods of communication. So, it's not surprising that people would exchange fewer posts with close friends, as well as romantic partners, as they get to know them.
Those are just my two cents, speaking from experience and observation. I'm sure HN has a range of opinions about this, and I'm interested in hearing other people's perspectives.
- dionidium 13y agoI post things to the walls of close friends fairly often, because I know them well enough to know what they'll find interesting. Also, this completely breaks down if you include private messages.
- JumpCrisscross 13y agoI think the sociological term you are looking for is "weak ties" [1] - Facebook (minus Messenger) appears to be a platform for weak ties more than strong. There are social, strategic, financial, and political benefits to maintaining a network of weak ties [2]. [1] https://www.stanford.edu/dept/soc/people/mgranovetter/documents/granstrengthweakties.pdf https://www.stanford.edu/dept/soc/people/mgranovetter/docume... [2] http://personal.stevens.edu/~ysakamot/BIA658/man/week4/burt.pdf http://personal.stevens.edu/~ysakamot/BIA658/man/week4/burt....
- makmanalp 13y agoThis is actually something that's been on my mind recently. If I keep my facebook messages with my girlfriend for posterity (like older people today kept their letters), I wonder if we'll be judged as a shallow couple with nothing to talk about other than daily events. It's just not conducive to much else. In reality, most of the deeper conversations and connections (with friends too) happen in person, with no record to speak of.
- ralphc 13y agoCouldn't be as simple as going from public timeline posts to private messages?
- the_watcher 13y agoIn the original Facebook blog post, I believe they reference this when noting that after the switch to "in a relationship," shared posts decline as they give way to in person interaction.