This research explores the relationship between a recent and ubiquitous technology – the

Internet – and an ancient and essential connection between individuals – friendship. Where
once communities were geographically limited and social networks were predominantly
made up of family members and local, long-held friends, the advent of the Internet and the
World Wide Web has meant that increasing numbers of people are creating personal
communities online, without restrictions of distance or established acquaintance. Online
communities and social networks are a function of computer-mediated communication
(CMC), which began in the early days of the Internet, enabling individuals to connect online
with strangers using, for example, bulletin board systems, email groups, and instant
messaging systems. CMC can be asynchronous, such as emails and blog posts, or
synchronous, such as chat rooms and instant messaging applications.
Online communities are usually created around a shared interest, while social networking
sites are more often focused on creating connections between individuals. Within subject-
based communities, off-topic discussion often occurs, which can lead to the exchange of
knowledge and experience, as well as the sharing of both important and insignificant personal
information. This can then result in the development of strong online friendships which in
some cases move offline, and may subsequently be integrated into participants’ everyday
lives. These are the types of online communities which enable individuals to make and
maintain genuine strong friendships, and it is these friendships which this research seeks to
explore.
There are constant changes in the types of activities that people engage in, and in the
technologies they use to establish and enjoy their social connections. For example, Robert
Putnam’s analysis of movements in social capital in the United States over the 20th century
showed that memberships in most US organizations, the frequency of dinner parties, league
bowling, and many other types of social connection grew for the first 70 years of the 20th
century and declined thereafter Some commentators and researchers argued that there were
new types of social connection, possibly more effective in nature, that were growing and
possibly offsetting the effects of declines elsewhere. One of the key examples offered was the
substitution of on-line for face-to-face (we use this term interchangeably with ‘real-life’)
friendships. The internet could thereby be seen as providing ways of enhancing or replacing
face-to-face friends through the availability of on-line social networks.

As technology develops, people find new ways to perform current tasks such as
communication. Through the Internet, people are capable of making virtually instant contact
with those who live across the world. Social media, online forums, and instant messengers
have bridged the physical gap of world location. People now have more options if they desire
to form connections, and friendships mediated exclusively through the computer, otherwise
known as ‘online friendships’ are becoming more and more popular. In fact, it was found
about 77% of U.S. adults used the Internet in 2010, and out of this sample, 20% claimed to
have friends whom they met via the Internet and with whom they only communicated via the
Internet (Wang & Wellman, 2010). This is not to say people seek online friendships for
different reasons than with their neighbor next door. At the core, online or offline, people
seek friendships to satisfy certain needs (Diener et al., 1999). For example, they may want to
attend to their psychological wellbeing, alleviate a sense of loneliness, or widen their social
group or network. What needs to be asked and researched is whether offline and exclusively
online friendships provide comparable psychosocial benefits to participants.
The focus of the current research study is Trust quality, communication style and friendship
quality in online friendship and real life friendship, which is developed online and that
remains solely online and face to face remains offline.
Trust emerges as more challenging phenomenon when this is realized that nature of online
interaction and friendship formation is permeated with narrations of fake connections or
forged presentations of the users. Consumers of online social networking sites can
easily exploit personal information of others and can exhibit their fake identities thus
beguiling their online maintained friends. Social networks are widely popular since they are
effective mediums for disseminating information and thereby linking like-minded people.
The smart phones based access of such mediums has further eased their access and more
and more teens are using it as source of developing friendships and social circles. The
online friendships quality has been construed as experienced closeness, trust, and
understanding among friends, maintained through online communication mode (Marsden
& Campbell, 2001; Chan & Cheng, 2004).
Trust
The use of the word “trust” in common discourse dates back to the 13th century, in Middle
English. It is regarded as probably being of Scandinavian origin, akin to Old Norse traust
(trust); akin to Old English tre¯owe (faithful) (Merriam-Webster dictionary). The word
“trust” dates back much earlier, though, when considered in the context of religion. Trust in
God is found both in the Old and New Testaments (Benner, 2004) as well as the Koran. In
current times, the religious use of trust is demonstrated in the phrase “In God We Trust”,
which is the official motto of the US and appears on much of its currency. Aside from the
trusts found in banking and financing, “trust” is defined in dictionaries as a “belief that
someone or something is reliable, good, effective etc.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary) and “to
believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and
reliable” (Cambridge English dictionary)
Trust is a psychological state that involves having positive expectations about the
intentions or behavior of another person (Rousseau, 2000; Lewicki, 2001). Online friendships
may involve nil interpersonal real situations but according to Kelley et al. (2003) trust can
never be gauged out effectively through virtual interactions and can solely be assessed in
certain interpersonal situations. Trust leads to greater cooperation, information sharing,
and stronger friendships.
Trust is a hybrid phenomenon and this requires both elements of The Dyadic Model
of Trust in Relationships. According to this model, trust is made up of two parts: the way
that trust is typically expressed in a society, and the individual ways that people trust others
(Meyerson, 1996). Fukuyama (1998) developed a theory of trust based on the idea that
cultural habits influence how much people trust family members and outsiders. Dawyer
et al. (2007) found that online trust involves a willingness to share information, and that
people's trust and usage goals affect what information they are willing to share on
different websites. This can have a significant impact on the quality of their online
friendships. There are discrepant evidences about friendship quality through online
social interactions.
Trust, as identified by McKnight et al. (2002), serves as a fundamental element in driving
social behavior in both online and offline environments. The importance of trust extends
beyond just personal interactions, permeating all facets of social dynamics, thus underscoring
its influence and relevance. In the realm of social media, trust may assume an even more
pivotal role in shaping social relationships (Yoo and Hyan 2016). The digital nature of these
platforms necessitates reliance on trust as users navigate interactions, build connections, and
foster relationships with others in a space where physical cues are absent (Abbasi and
Alghamdi 2018). Trust in this context can be multifaceted, encompassing trust in the
platform itself, in the accuracy and reliability of shared content, and in the authenticity and
intentions of other users

According to Topus (2010), online friendships cannot be translated into productive and
trustworthy relationships. Youth in the age range of (18-24 years) are using social media
more heavily than previous generations (Duggan & Smith, 2013)
According to research, social media use may affect our personality, self-efficacy, friendship
quality, and psychosocial wellbeing (Michikyan, Subrahmanyam, & Dennis, 2014).
Friendship is a pattern of relationship that virtually everyone experiences and it has
significant function of promoting affection, intimacy and trust. Interpersonal relationships
are markedly dependent on such advance mediums of communication (Pempek et al., 2009;
Quan-Haase& Young, 2010). Facebook makes it easy to communicate with many people at
the same time. Social media can also help users stay up-to-date on the lives of people they
haven't seen in a while, and reconnect with new and old friends (Quan-Haase & Young,
2010)

Friendship and trust are closely related constructs. No relationship

can survive if trust is missing. Friendship can only grow due to trust.
According to Rotter, (1967) to have confidence on the ability of another is
called trust. Lewis and Weigert, (1985) found that the key to positive
interpersonal relationships in various settings is trust because it is central to
how we interact with others.

APPROACHES TO THE INVESTIGATION OF TRUST

Psychosocial Theory
Erikson’s (1963) Psychosocial Theory is regarded as one of the origins of contemporary
psychology. This theory is the most commonly cited account of trust in introductory and
developmental psychology texts. The theory posits that development is composed of a
sequence of eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage entails a conflict that can
be resolved in a psychologically healthy or unhealthy fashion. The resolution at one stage
affects the capacity of the individual to resolve subsequent stages in the sequence. The first
is the “Trust vs Mistrust” stage, which occurs from birth to 18 months of age. According to
Erikson (1963), during that period, trust is an emotion that comprises an infant’s experiential
state of confidence that he or she is valued and his or her needs will be met. If the infant
encounters that warmth/nurturance from his or her caregiver then he or she attains a basic
trust. By contrast, if the infant encounters a lack of warmth/rejection then he or she attains a
basic mistrust. The infant who attains basic trust is able to delay gratification and exert
control over his or her bodily functions (e.g., bowels). According to this theory the emotion
of trust during infancy profoundly affects the course of development.
Attachment Theory Bowlby (1980) and others such as Ainsworth (e.g.,Ainsworth, 1989)
have advanced Attachment Theory. According to this theory, infants form different qualities
of attachment as a result of the nature of the nurturance and sensitivity of their care provider
– primarily their mother. As a product of the interactions and the quality of attachment, a
child constructs an Internal Working Model (IWM) that represents his or her care provider,
self, and the relationship between them. The IWM establishes a cognitive-affective
framework that affects later psychosocial functioning. Trust has been conceptualised in the
attachment theory and research in two ways. First, trust has been viewed as the infant using
the care provider as a secure base that is an integral part of the quality of attachment (Waters
& Deane, 1985). Second, it has been proposed that securely as opposed to insecurely attached
children develop an IWM that includes social expectations characterised by a sense of trust in
others and positive thoughts regarding the intentions of other people’s behaviour (Cohn,
1990). From my perspective, attachment style is a complex and multidimensional construct
and it would be misguided to regard trust as synonymous with attachment
Piagetian Theory Piaget (1965) examined children’s evaluations of lying, among other
behaviours, as evidence for moral development. He proposed that young children (7 years
and under) demonstrate moral realism (moral objectivity) and thus fail to take into
consideration the intentions guiding communication. The young children viewed mistakes
that caused harm as a lie and reprehensible – even though the consequences of the lie were
unintended. By contrast, older children showed subjective morality by giving considerable
weight to the intentions guiding the communication and regarded incorrect communication as
a lie when intended to deceive others. Contrary to Piaget’s formulations, contemporary
research shows that young children do consider intentions in determining lying. The research
does show, though, that children’s utilisation of intentions in determining lying increase in
complexity with development (Peterson, Peterson, & Seeto, 1983). Older children and adults
regard lying as detrimental to trust in social relationships.
Communication styles
Online communication is, undoubtedly, very common recently. It is found that people

predominately go online for interpersonal communication through instant messaging (IM)

and chat (Gross, 2004; Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005), but some form new relationships

with strangers they met online (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2003). With the rapid

integration of the online communication technologies into our daily life, it is essential to

understand its social impacts. More specifically, will this kind of communication affect one’s

real-life friendship quality? The primary goals of this study are to find out the relationship
between online communication and real-life friendship quality, as well as having some

comparisons between computer-mediated communication and face-to face communication.

Online Communication

Online communication is defined as “private, largely text-based interpersonal

communication in a dyadic or small-group setting using internet applications such as email,

internet relay chat or instant messaging (IM)” (Peter & Valkenburg, 2006). There are two

major concepts describing the possible influences of online communication on one’s social

relationships: reduction and stimulation hypotheses.

The reduction hypothesis has it that online communication would lead to

displacement effect and the formation of “weak ties”, which are the superficial relationships

with strangers (Kiesler, Seigel, & McGuire, 1984). Based on this hypothesis, one’s

involvement in social activities and friendship quality in the real-life world will be reduced

because of online communication (Kraut et al, 1998). This hypothesis is based on four

assumptions: (a) the internet motivates one to form superficial online relationships with

strangers who met online; (b) superficial online friendships, when compared to real-life

friendships, are less beneficial; (c) interacting with strangers online will displace and reduce

the time spent with real-life friends (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007b), (d) therefore, online

communication is said to be reducing friendship quality in the reality.

The reductive effect of online communication can be further explained by the

“reduced social context cues model”, which is proposed by Kiesler, Seigel, & McGuire

(1984). This model holds that computer-mediated communication (CMC) is inferior to

faceto-face (FTF) communication because non-verbal cues like emotional tones and gesture
are

unavailable in CMC, resulting in more distance in CMC than in FTF communication. Besides,

as CMC provides access to a wide interaction with many people who share common
interests

and hobbies, it is suggested that the reduced social context cues of CMC lessens the risks of

interacting with strangers and thus leads to “weak tie” relationships (Rice & Love, 1987;

Sproull & Kiesler, 1986).

Rooted on reduction hypothesis, it is suggested that online communication might

encourage people to spend more time alone facing the computer, chatting online with

strangers and forming superficial friendships with them. This occurs at the expense of
reallife interactions and companionship with real-life friends and family members (Putnam,
2000,

p. 179). CMC, therefore, will displace FTF conversations in the real-life world (Cummings,

Butler, & Kraut, 2002).

The popular applications of online communication that encourage “weak ties” share

some similarities: they provide public spaces that allow people gather around, meet each

other, communicate, observe others communicating, and form new relationships with
others
(Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, & Gross, 2002). It helps create a “network society”

which enables people to find similar others across time and place (Mesch & Talmud, 2006).

Some online services that promote the formation of “weak tie” relationships include
socialnetworking sites (SNS), chat rooms and message/bulletin boards.

On the contrary, the stimulation hypothesis suggests that online communication

would enhance the relationships with others. This hypothesis is initially developed to
explain

relationship formation among strangers (McKenna, Green, & Gleason, 2002), but at present
it

is applicable to relationship maintenance and the recent research focus on online

communication among preexisting friends (e.g. Grinter & Palen, 2002; Leung, 2002; Schiano

et al, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007a; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007b). According to
stimulation hypothesis, online communication is used to keep up with preexisting friends

(Gross, 2004) and will stimulate one’s closeness to existing friends (Valkenburg & Peter,

2007b).

The stimulation hypothesis is based on the following assumptions: (a) the reduced

visual and auditory cues of CMC encourage self-disclosure more easily when compared with

FTF communication in the real life (McKenna & Bargh, 2000); (b) intimate self-disclosure is

an crucial predictor of reciprocity, trust, liking, and caring (Collins & Miller, 1994); (c) as a

result of the above two assumptions, CMC facilitates the formation of “strong ties”,
especially among adolescents (McKenna et al, 2002), and stimulates the real-life friendships

with preexisting friends.

In fact, the unique features of online communication, like anonymity and lack of

“gating features”, facilitate the ease of self-disclosure and the formation of “strong ties”

(McKenna & Barge, 2000; McKenna et al, 2002). Moreover, Utz (2000) argued that the

reduced social context cues could be replaced by the use of paralanguage, which are

emoticons such as smileys, to express emotions and reveals gesture. Thus, besides FTF

communication, CMC is an effective communication tool for interacting with friends as

CMC facilitate self-disclosure with the person they communicate.

It is found that online communication is positively related to an individual’s size of

social circle and the frequency of FTF interactions with preexisting friends (Kraut et al,
2002).
The most common online communication technologies that promote “strong ties” and

stimulate friendship quality are instant messaging (IM), “I seek you (ICQ)”, and other

messaging services.

The reduction hypothesis and stimulation hypothesis both yield great support form

various research findings. However, it is found that the studies which show reductive

influences on real-life friendships were conducted at the earlier stage of the internet and
the

communicating target is mainly strangers who met online (e.g. Kiesler et al, 1984; Katz &
Aspden, 1997; Kraut et al, 1998; Mesch & Talmud, 2006). Recent research was more

consistent with the stimulation hypothesis (e.g. Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004; Gross, 2004;

Kraut et al, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007b). It is noted that the inconsistent findings are

depending on whom an individual communicate with and what online communication

services one is using. It can be concluded that instant messaging services (IM) are related to

“strong ties” as IM is commonly used to keep up and interact with preexisting friends; while

social-networking services (SNS) are associated with “weak ties” as SNS is mainly used to

meet strangers online.