Abstract

With the emergence of digital media, individuals now have ways of social networking like the use of Facebook. There was a time when friendship was limited to face-to-face situation only, whereby people meet and interact at conferences, meetings, dates but now friendships and networking are now over the virtual network. With this development, little has been known on the pattern of relationship that exists among social networkers, especially in this part of the world, and how this relationship affects their offline relationship. This study therefore seeks to find out how young people establish virtual relationships through Facebook, the forms and the strength of social ties young people form through Facebook, and the effects that Facebook has on offline socialization among young people. A survey research method was adopted to study 300 young people between the age of 15 and 25 who are on Facebook The findings show that young people spend considerable time on Facebook purposely to find new friends and maintain existing relationship. Besides, Wall is the most popular of all the tools on Facebook followed by Photos. While the ties formed on Facebook is strong, most respondents still show preference for offline relationships.

Key Words: Digital Media, Virtual Network, Socialization, Young People, Social Change

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, October  2011, 107 – 118.

© Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the authors

*Dr. Olusola Oyero is a Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

**Ebenezer Ajibade Jegede is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

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Words: 6,079; Pages: 12