Friendship and Social Media 101research builds from a longer tradition of investigating psychosocial well- being and
Internet use more generally. Broadly, such research exhibits two opposing theoreti-
cal stances. First, the time displacement approach takes a pessimistic view, contend-
ing that online communication detracts time from more meaningful face- to- face
interaction (Kraut et al., 1998; Williams, 2006). In contrast, the rich- get- richer
approach argues that social Internet use augments the benefits of offline interaction,
especially for those who are socially adept (Kraut et al., 2002). This section consid-
ers both approaches and their implications for the study of social media, although
the limited extant research provides more robust support for the latter (Valkenburg
& Peter, 2007).
The time displacement approach reasons that time is a zero- sum resource,
and thus time devoted to online communication must occur at the expense of
time devoted to offline communication or nonsocial activities (Putnam, 1995).
Although the studies reviewed in the previous section demonstrate a positive asso-
ciation between social capital and social media use (e.g., Ellison et al., 2011), some
studies have observed nonsignificant (Pollet, Roberts, & Dunbar, 2011) or inverse
associations (Pea et al., 2012) with well- being outcomes, and even when beneficial,
expansion of offline networks to social media may generate concerns about privacy
and other matters (Masden, Grevet, Grinter, Gilbert, & Edwards, 2014). Thus,
some scholars believe it remains an open question whether benefits obtained from
social media friendship are worth the effort; for example, Vallor (2012) suggested
that social media may train users to commodify friendships and dismiss them when
they become inconvenient. Beyond time displacement, other scholarship echoes
concerns expressed by parents and the popular press, including cyberbullying
(O’Keeffe & Clarke- Pearson, 2011) and exposure to harmful content (e.g., pro-
anorexia or prosuicide websites; Slavtcheva- Petkova, Nash, & Bulger, 2015). Aside
from a handful of studies investigating cyberbullying’s association with offline bul-
lying (Kwan & Skoric, 2013) and intervention strategies (Freis & Gurung, 2013),
these topics await programmatic empirical research.
The majority of the limited body of research on social media and well- being
has identified positive psychosocial outcomes associated with use. For example,
social media may particularly aid users during times of transition between friend-
ship networks, such as the beginning of a person’s college career. Support obtained
via social media may not only facilitate new relational ties (Ellison et al., 2011) but
also help students achieve academic success prior to college (Khan, Wohn, &
Ellison, 2014), navigate the college application process (Wohn, Ellison, Khan,
Fewins- Bliss, & Gray, 2013), adjust to college life (DeAndrea et al., 2012), and
remain in college when times get tough (Gray, Vitak, Ellison, & Easton, 2013). In
a general sense, these results highlight beneficial outcomes accruing from main-
tained social capital (Ellison et al., 2007), and future research might examine such
outcomes across other life transitions (e.g., beginning a career, having a child, or
entering retirement).