研究:社交網站有利真實社交

Contrary to common belief social media websites such as Facebook do not weaken personal ties, they strengthen them in unique ways for different age groups, according to a new study.

The rapid spread of Facebook, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, has prompted concerns about its negative effects, but researchers at the University of Texas have reached a different conclusion.

"Our findings suggest that Facebook is not supplanting face-to-face interactions between friends, family and colleagues," said S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV and film who headed the research team.

"In fact, we believe there is sufficient evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy and community."

The researchers questioned 900 college students and recent graduates about how and with whom they interact on Facebook.

More than 60 percent of Facebook users said posting status updates was among the most popular activities, followed by 60 percent who wrote comments on their profile and 49 percent who posted messages and comments to friends.

The researchers also found that although about the same number of men and women use Facebook, they do so in different ways.

"There is a noteworthy difference in orientation in how to use a tool like Facebook. We found that for women the content tends to be more affectionate, and (they) are especially interested in using it for connection," said Watkins.

"For men, it's more functional," he added.

Watkins pointed out that, for example, women are more likely to post pictures of social gatherings with friends, while men are more likely to post pictures of hobbies, or post a political or pop-culture related link.

一項新研究表明，Facebook等社交網站並不會削弱人與人之間的關係，反而會以其獨特的方式加強不同年齡羣體的聯繫，而這與人們的普遍看法相反。

Facebook發展十分迅速，目前全球用戶量已超過5億，這也使得人們開始擔憂其負面影響，但德克薩斯大學的研究人員得出了不同的結論。

研究小組負責人S•克雷格•沃特金斯是廣播、電視和電影學的副教授，他說：“我們的研究表明，Facebook並沒有取代朋友、家人和同事間面對面的交流。”

“事實上，我們認爲，有足夠的證據表明，社交媒體爲友情、親密感情、和共享提供了新的表達方式。”

共有900名大學生和新近的畢業生參與了該調查，他們被問及在Facebook網站上的互動方式及對象。

超過60%的Facebook用戶稱，他們最喜歡更新個人狀態，另有60%的用戶喜歡在個人資料中添加評論，還有49%的用戶會給好友發送信息及評論。

研究人員還發現，儘管使用Facebook的男女用戶人數大致相等，但其使用方式卻有所差異。

沃特金斯說：“男女在使用Facebook這樣的社交工具時，定位有顯著差異。我們發現女性的頁面內容一般會更感性，她們特別喜歡通過頁面內容和別人建立聯繫。”

他補充道：“而男性則更注重其功能。”

沃特金斯舉例指出，女性更喜歡上傳好友社交聚會的照片，而男性則更喜歡上傳業餘愛好的照片，或者是政治或流行文化的相關鏈接。

Vocabulary:

community: common ownership or participation（共享，共有）