How we became net friends, and what we learned from it

Mikael Jakobsson Department of Informatics Umeå University Umeå, Sweden mjson@informatik.umu.se [home page]

Victoria L. Popdan Johns Hopkins University Washington DC, USA vicki8@ssfs.org [home page]

This paper is an auto ethnographic study of the development of a net friendship. One of the effects of the spreading use of Internet is that more and more people form relations between them without meeting face-to-face. Our goal has been to try to capture some of the specific characteristics of the development of such a friendship, with an emphasis on the interaction in virtual worlds. Much of the discussions in the paper are at some level connected to the question of what a net identity is and how it is constructed. Our main points are: Some personal traits are emphasized in virtual contexts and some are de-emphasized. But on the whole, the way a person is perceived is very different compared to meeting FtF. By restricting interaction to the exchange of ideas, without the burden of exposing ones physical characteristics opens for a more direct style of interaction. The virtual body is of importance for the perceived engagement of the virtual world experience and as a conveyor of emotions. It even mentally takes the place of the physical body. The way the technology is designed affects the form of the social interaction, but often in ways not predicted by the designer. The technology worked as a shield, but not between Vicki and Mike, but between Mike and his girlfriend. When we import props from the real world such as bodies and object, we also import meaning attached to them. Our conclusions are that net friendship is different from friendships in a physical setting in many ways. But there is nothing that indicates that the net friendship should be less real or important than its physical counterpart. This is perhaps best taken both as a promise and a warning. People who hope to use the net for real meaningful social interaction may be able to find what they are looking for, while people who wish to use the net for detached and non-committal adventures that they think will bear no consequences on their off-line existence should take this paper as a warning.

 

URL: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mjson/nfabstract.html
Responsible: Mikael Jakobsson [e-mail] [home page]
Last updated: 4 feb -00