Page 105 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment
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                                Communication technologies may play an important role in maintaining and nurturing existing relationships. Romantic partners concurrently use various communication platforms with affordances that serve different or overlapping functions for relational maintenance. Relational maintenance involves keeping a relationship stable and ensuring that the relationship is mutually satisfying for partners (Tong & Walther, 2011). In geographically-close romantic relationships (GCRR), communication technologies may be used as a supplement to face-to- face interaction (Rabby & Walther, 2003). In long distance romantic relationships (LDRR), however, the use of communication technologies may be more crucial. LDRR often require more effort to maintain compared to GCRR (Aylor, 2003). Communication technologies may help mitigate the adverse effects of distance in LDRR (Billedo, Kerkhof, & Finkenauer, 2015; Jiang & Hancock, 2013; Dainton & Aylor, 2002).
Maintaining a romantic relationship does not only involve the romantic partners themselves but also a network of people who may provide information and support (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Cox, Wexler, Rusbult, & Gaines, 1997; Felmlee, 2001; Visser et al., 2017). Among the various communication technologies, social network sites (SNSs), like Facebook, have both private and public affordances which may facilitate couples’ access to their social network. Access to a social network implies that couples may send and gather information from their SNSs network connections, making it possible to receive support (Ellison, Vitak, Gray, & Lampe, 2014; Utz & Breur, 2017). Thus, in this study, we argued that the relevance of SNSs in romantic relationships is not only via interpersonal aspects (e.g., direct communication between partners), but also via social aspects, such as communication with a network of family and friends who may provide support to one’s romantic relationship.
The use of specific communication technologies, like SNSs, for relational maintenance can be explained by cost-benefit assessment (Tong & Walther, 2011). Communication technologies are used because these platforms have affordances that are believed to reduce the amount of effort or cost of maintaining relationships. Similar to other forms of computer mediated communication (e.g., Skype, Whatsapp, SMS, Email), social network sites (SNSs), like Facebook, have one-on-one communication affordances that allow direct interaction between partners. What makes SNSs unique is that they provide a public and a social context for interaction between partners and their social network. SNSs allow couples to observe their partner in a public context, provide opportunities for
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