In many blogs social media is often referred to as a relationship building tool and a customer loyalty tool. However, there are also some critics out there who state that online interaction can not beat face-to-face interactions’.  Since I do see truth in both statements I was curious what scientific research had to say about the differences in the quality of online and offline friendships. And of course I would not dare to keep the results to myself. So here is a post about the difference in quality of online vs. offline friendships and possibly a new way of measuring the ROI of Social Media ;)

Friendship

Friendships develop along a five stage continuum: (1) Initiating (2) Experimenting (3) Intensifying (4) Integrating and (5) Bonding. The quality of friendship consists and can be measured through the following seven dimensions:

  1. Interdependence: Feeling of mutual dependence and the degree to which the two parties influence one another.
  2. Breadth: Variety of conversational topics.
  3. Depth: Communicative aspect of intimacy.
  4. Code Change: Change in linguistic forms and cultural codes used in a relationship.
  5. Understanding: Agreement about which behaviors are acceptable and the understanding of how each person’s actions can contribute to the relationship.
  6. Commitment: Expectation that a relationship will continue and the feeling that a relationship ought to continue.
  7. Network Convergence: Overlapping of social networks of the two parties.

Quality online vs. offline friendships

It seems that both the blog posts and the critics have been right. Online friendships could be just as qualitative as offline relationships, but this only applies to friendships that have lasted for more than a year. Online friendships seem to be more constrained by factors such as lower frequency of exposure. This could indicate that online relationships in the beginning of the friendships continuum stages (1-6 months) are more vulnerable than offline friendships. After six months the friendship starts to grow quickly and the quality of it increases. This indicates that while computer-mediated-communication in comparison to face-to-face communication offers less information per exchange, the problem could be alleviated by allowing longer and more frequent interactions over time.

Same-sex and cross-sex online friendships

The development of cross-sex friendships are in an offline setting more constrained than same-sex friendships. Reasons for this are normative constraints such as the social disapprovement of such friendships or because of structural constraints such as the lack of opportunities for males and females to meet and interact continuously. Well, for all of you out there who encountered those constraints: the Internet offers a solution to your problem. Research has shown that cross-sex friendships seem to be less difficult to develop offline. It removes the offline constraints that withhold the development of cross-sex friendships and allows physical absence and anomity and with that reduces the perception of risk that exists in cross-sex face-to-face interactions, such as unwanted sexual advances. In other words, it provides an environment that may be perceived as a safe environment for people to initiate and develop cross-sex friendships with a lower degree of reticence and reservation.

Implications

I think that some important implications can be drawn from the above stated information and also explains some thoughts on the ROI of social media.

  • Firms want to befriend their customers and it seems that this could well be achieved in an online setting with social media applications. However, it will take at least six months before the foundations for a good friendship are in place. Thus, it will take a lot of effort and patience to achieve a qualitative friendship.
  • Since online friendships are more likely to be constrained by frequency of exposure, it is advisable to increase the intensity of your customer contact moments. Let your customers know that you are around; keep them updated on what your brand/organizations is doing and more importantly ask their opinion and show your customers if possible that you have listened to what they have told you.
  • Sometimes a post or tweet passes by wherein complaints are shared on the low measurement of the ROI of social media. I think that this post supports the fact that social media applications are great tools for building customer loyalty, but this will not happen overnight! As mentioned earlier it will take at least six months before the first signs of friendships appear and can be measured.
  • A new Social Media ROI measurement that is not financially oriented but more on the relation aspect could be the measurement of quality of friendship that consists of the seven dimensions interdependence; breadth; depth; code change; understanding; commitment; network convergence.

I’m very curious on what you all think of the last implications the quality of friendship as a new social media ROI measurement. I all encourage you to share your thoughts on the subject :) It may help us to create a new way of measuring the ROI of Social Media!