by Leigh Goessl

Created on: August 09, 2011   Last Updated: August 11, 2011

People who enjoy one another's company tend to forge good friendships. This is mainly because of the fact individuals share similar affections, interests and/or hobbies and can enjoy one another's company in their leisure time. Traditionally trust and friendship have gone hand-in-hand with one another.

With the advent of the Internet and the web, however, the dynamics of what friendship means has begun to evolve. Facebook has had a particularly strong impact on what constitutes friendship nowadays.

Looking at how society has transformed and embraced digital communications, in 2011 the perception of conventional friendship is perhaps drastically changing. With the materialization of social networks, such as Facebook, emerged to become a prominent staple in daily living, it seems conceivable the dynamics of friendships, and the associated familiarity no longer are made up of the same elements of what society once defined as a friend.

•  Trust and friendship

A common term heard nowadays is 'Facebook friends', however are these truly friendships in the traditional sense of what people generally perceived as friendship? Many connections, referred to as friends, on Facebook or other social networks are often strangers, acquaintances or not necessarily people individuals like, never mind would confide in, but feel societal pressure and emphasis to 'connect'.

Many friends made on social networks are a far cry from a desire to seek and build trustworthy and bonding friendships, but are often rather focused on building connection lists. Many communicative exchanges come in the form of public status updates, not out of a strong desire to share and confide information on personal topics.

Liz Gannes, AllThingsD.com, states "But while Facebook might be the hottest game in town, it’s still a pretty warped and inaccurate picture of what it means to have friends."

Considering this statement, it seems a natural questioning of whether or not the value of trust even plays a role when it comes to modern friendships? Perhaps in theory trust does serve a role, however when looking at it from the perception of 'Facebook friend' (or any other network), are these connections actually the same as true friendships? The bond between friends is no longer perhaps based on factors such as compatibility or trust, but rather cemented through technology.

• How communication is evolving

Being the perception of what friendship means is perhaps changing, along with this transformation

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>