| dc.description.abstract | Social networking sites are popular virtual places for
teenagers seeking social contacts. One of the dangers
associated with such contacts is risky self-disclosure by
the teenagers: disclosure of personal information, visual
self-disclosure and finally physical self-disclosure.
Communication on social networking sites consists of
personal presentations including lists of interests and
hobbies and messages that are exchanged between
members. In both kinds of communication perceived
similarity plays an important role in establishing a
rapport with and even liking of strangers. This research
examines such influences by manipulating the
communication medium and perceived similarity,
measuring liking, trust, intimate and risky self-disclosure,
and investigating moderating factors. Online
communication does not appear to cause a higher
tendency for risky self-disclosure among teenagers. On
the contrary, they report a higher tendency to do so in
their offline activities. This suggests that a “watch out”
effect is already established in teenagers’ attitudes
towards social networking sites, possibly as a result of
wide social experience with dangers lurking on such sites
as well as due to increasing public information on these
dangers. An observation that reinforces this explanation
is that maintaining a web photo album is related to a higher tendency for risky self-disclosure in offline as well
as in online communication. Other factors that reinforce
this tendency (higher frequency of computer and
Internet use, self-reported digital skills, positive attitude
concerning the Internet for social contacts with friends
and male sex) also suggest that risky self-disclosure may
relate less to social networking sites than to more
general personal characteristics that underlie Internet
use. | |
