Electronic communication has been redefining the ways in which people communicate with each other since its wide-spread introduction in the 1990’s. E-mail, instant messaging, internet forums, and social networking have added entirely new meanings to interpersonal interaction and community. Through time, internet based communication has developed its own set of non-verbal communication (emoticons, select usage of certain punctuation, chat speak, etc.) Like all other communication technologies, it has also been adapted into everyday life and everyday communication (by those that have access of course).

It is the interplay between internet and real life communication and its subsequent effect on interpersonal relationships that is the focus of this research proposal. Popular social networking websites such as Facebook have bundled many of the internet communication standards such as e-mail, forums, and instant messaging into one resource. Then these communication standards are linked together through a Web 2.0 standard called “social networking.” Social networking allows users to link and communicate with each other through a myriad of ways… and it is always at the user’s discretion.

Research has already been done on who uses Facebook, why they do, and how much time they spend on it (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). There has also been introductory research done on the benefits of social networking through Facebook (Stern & Taylor, 2007) and the electronic presenting and “looking glass” self through Facebook (Walther 2008). The academic world knows what Facebook is and why it’s used. However, in the last two years, Facebook usage has become a staple activity in a young adult’s life. While it varies slightly among gender and race groups, overall, young adults (college aged) who have internet access use Facebook regularly for some type of social contact. With this mass assimilation into daily life, it has already begun to change the way in which interpersonal relationships are defined.

I want to take the research further and into the zone of romantic relationships. Facebook is one of the the, if not the top medium for young adults to “scope out” and “research” potential partners. While research has been done on internet based dating, I want to look at how Facebook is being used to define, redefine, develop, and maintain real life romantic relationships. With Facebook playing a large role in many romantic relationships, it’s important to see how this will continue to shape interpersonal communication in the future.

While Facebook is used for both the cultivation of real life and internet-only relationships, the importance of this research proposal is to look at how Facebook is an extension of real life. This research proposal aims to discover how far Facebook is used to define, cultivate, and maintain real life interpersonal romantic relationships. Through looking at previous research on Facebook, online romantic relationships, and disclosure through internet communication, we will see what direction research needs to go to find valid conclusions on the interplay of real life and Facebook in the development of interpersonal romantic relationships.

Download pdf The Interplay of Real Life and Facebook in Defining Interpersonal Romantic Relationships