Social networking has managed to make its way into nearly every aspect of life. It affects the way we fall in love, the way we work, the way we have fun and the way we communicate. Social networking has also affected friendships.
Time and distance no longer play a role when we want to communicate with our friends. All we need is access to our Facebook accounts. Social networking has made it easy for people to maintain connections, even if they have moved to another countries. Factors that previously got in the way of friendships are no longer as omnipotent (全能的) as they used to be. Virtual communications facilitate the maintenance of relations between people in conditions that previously used to bring an end to relations, regardless of their intensity.
Social media have also changed the very essence of the term friend. Someone who is listed in a Facebook friends list is not necessarily a real life friend. Online communications have managed to affect our perception of the term friendship. It now encompasses broader relations that do not necessarily include intimate sharing and deep knowledge of each other. Social networks allow individuals to connect effortlessly. This ease of communication has turned friendship into something more casual than it is in real life.
In the meantime, social media friendships are more artificial than the ones that happen in real life. Much remains hidden when two people get to know each other without meeting by social media communication. It has made friendships more artificial and somehow shallow. These features are not necessarily negative. Artificiality and the ease of communication make it easier for people to enjoy each other"s friendship. However, they may fail to go through real-life situations that can make a friendship stronger and deeper.
Social media friendships increase the chance of deception (欺骗). In real life, if the person is not a good actor, the rule what you see is what you remains valid. The online realm world grants a degree of comfortable anonymity, which increases the chance of deception. Though social media have facilitated communications, they have made people more cautious. In the web, people can be whoever they dream to be. Online friendships can often turn out to be pure manipulations. This is probably the most dangerous aspect of virtual communication. What is the effect of the ease of communication