ECREA16-Abstract

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Friday, November 11

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ICS04

Challenges for Online Social Life

PP 406

How Different Ways of Greeting Affect First Impressions on Others

M. Loureiro

1,2

LabCom.IFP, Covilhã, Portugal

University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Department of Letters- Arts and Communication, Vila Real, Portugal

The first impressions we generate on others are decisive in the interpersonal communication process that will follow.We know that other people make a first

impression of us in the first minutes that they contact with us, and, in addition to our appearance and non-verbal communication, the way we greet them

crucially determines that first impressions. In Portuguese society, there are many ways to greet a person, depending on the situational and cultural context,

the social and economic power, the age and gender. Similarly, these different types of greetings can be interpreted in two ways: (1) as a person likes another

and to what extent he/she is interested in their views, and (2) the relative perceived status between sender and receiver.Therefore, this paper tries to explain

the Portuguese greetings and its different meanings and interpretations. Thus, this exploratory study is based on the application of a questionnaire survey

to a relevant sample, which shows the importance that people impute to the ways of greetings and the meanings attributed to them. Finally, we highlight

how important it is to master the ways of greeting to have an effective interpersonal communication. Key-words: Interpersonal communication, nonverbal

communication, greetings and first impressions

PP 407

Physically Disabled Teenagers Struggle to Overcome Bodily Stigma and Exclusion in Online Relationships

H. Kaur

Loughborough University, Social Sciences, Loughborough, United Kingdom

Research on disabled people’s relationships online has tended to focus on how virtual interaction enables them to establish relationships without being

constrained by their body. Drawing on an ethnographic study on physically disabled teenagers’use of the Internet in a special education school, this paper

argues that disabled teenagers struggle to overcome bodily stigma and exclusion online. The paper highlights two issues. First, the visual and stereotypical

presentation of the self on social networking sites can make it hard for physically disabled teenagers to be accepted. Second, online anonymous interaction

can provide disabled teenagers with the confidence to form new relations. However, they also often experience rejection in pursuing romantic relations or

friends online. For instance, the exclusionary logic of failing to conform to normative bodily and other characteristics is simply transferred into the digital

realm. The issues are illustrated by three case studies: (i) a gay disabled teenager seeking identity and romantic relations online, (ii) a disabled girl, aban‑

doned by her friends for not being able to live up to a “girlie” image and resorting to stalking them and (iii) a young disabled athlete, who via the creation

of a‘sporting identity’is able to find acceptance in his authentic presentation of self. The case studies tease out the complex ways in which teenage lookism,

normative behaviour, exclusion and rejection are mediated by disability and digital media.

PP 408

How Do You Make a Facebook Friend? Greek Students’ Criteria for Choosing Friends in Facebook and Deciding to Interact with Them

E. Kourti

, P. Kordoutis

, A. Madoglou

University of Athens, School of Education, Athens, Greece

Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Psychology, Athens, Greece

Facebook (Fb) is self-defined as a means of building, strengthening and enriching friendships. However, the tools it provides to its users (like, comment,

chat, share) to actualize friendships work by simply reinforcing contacts, e.g., for the most part by using like and checking-in with someone and less so by

using comment and chat). This simplistic mode of handling contacts allows for the unlimited multiplication of Fb friends, as well as for bringing together

under the rubric “friend” diverse kind of friendships ranging from close analog (“real”) friends to complete digital strangers. This puts forth the question,

whether Fb serves its alleged goal to pursue, strengthen and expand friendship or underlying goals, such as promoting desired social identities, enhancing

and using popularity as added value in one’s social network. To probe answers to this question the present study focused on Fb users’subjective perception

of friendship in Fb. Participants were students (N= 166) from different Universities in Athens; they responded to questions inquiring about intensity of Fb

use, and number/kind of friends in Fb (e.g., analog vs. purely digital); they also listed their responses to open questions on how they define Fb friendship,

what criteria they employ in making Fb friends and how they decide to interact with them digitally and/or in the analog world. Of particular interest

was the question of the criteria used to determine that a purely digital friendship turns into an analog one. Participants’ written responses were content

analyzed. It was found that friendship in Fb is associated more with ease of communication among friends that share an already established friendship

in the analog world, rather than with making new friendships digitally. Main criteria for making a friend on Fb were demographic similarity, geographic

proximity, common interests, activities and values. Attractive physical appearance was frequently listed among the criteria used to decide whether one

could meet in the analog world an unknown digital friend. Other criteria included, providing a sense of trust, being predictable and “normal”, by common

standards, having chatted for a long time, having common friends and giving the overall impression of a positive personality. Friendship in Fb seems to

be, on the one hand, an index of popularity that includes a wide range of relation kinds (hence the big number of unknown friends) chosen on the basis

of superficial, albeit, cautious, criteria and on the other, a consolidation of relationships already existing in the analog world (e.g., family, friends, old friends,

distant friends, acquaintances). A limited number of new friendships arising from digital interaction may transfer to the analog world under very strict and

multiple requirements. Thus, some Fb friendships, are destined to remain locked in the digital environment as parallel to the analog ones.