TY - JOUR
T1 - Face-to-face and electronic communications in maintaining social networks
T2 - The influence of geographical and relational distance and of information content
AU - Tillema, Taede
AU - Dijst, Martin
AU - Schwanen, Tim
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Using data collected among 742 respondents, this article aims at gaining greater insight into (i) the interaction between face-to-face (F2F) and electronic contacts, (ii) the influence of information content and relational distance on the communication mode/ service choice and (iii) the influence of relational and geographical distance, in addition to other factors, on the frequency of F2F and electronic contacts with relatives and friends. The results show that the frequency of F2F contacts is positively correlated with that for electronic communication, pointing at a complementarity effect.With respect to information content and relational distance, we find, on the basis of descriptive analyses, that synchronous modes/services (F2F and telephone conversations) are used more for urgent matters and that asynchronous modes (in particular email) become more influential as the relational distance increases. Finally, ordered probit analyses confirm that the frequency of both F2F and electronic communication declines when the physical and relational distance to social network members increases.
AB - Using data collected among 742 respondents, this article aims at gaining greater insight into (i) the interaction between face-to-face (F2F) and electronic contacts, (ii) the influence of information content and relational distance on the communication mode/ service choice and (iii) the influence of relational and geographical distance, in addition to other factors, on the frequency of F2F and electronic contacts with relatives and friends. The results show that the frequency of F2F contacts is positively correlated with that for electronic communication, pointing at a complementarity effect.With respect to information content and relational distance, we find, on the basis of descriptive analyses, that synchronous modes/services (F2F and telephone conversations) are used more for urgent matters and that asynchronous modes (in particular email) become more influential as the relational distance increases. Finally, ordered probit analyses confirm that the frequency of both F2F and electronic communication declines when the physical and relational distance to social network members increases.
KW - electronic communication
KW - face-to-face communication
KW - geographical and relational distance
KW - social network
KW - the Netherlands
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957060287&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1461444809353011
DO - 10.1177/1461444809353011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77957060287
SN - 1461-4448
VL - 12
SP - 965
EP - 983
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
IS - 6
ER -