Use of social media web and its impact on online friendships [Penggunaan laman sosial dan impaknya terhadap hubungan persahabatan dalam talian]

As a neutral public place which is different from home and workplace,social media such as social networking sites allows people to come together and interact,regardless of status or position. in fact,they are free to come and go as they like is not bound by any obligation to accept or reject requests for friendship. boyd (2006) argues that the concepts of friendship and personal relationships are changing and new caused the emergence of a new relationship as “friendster”,friends who known in the context of social networking sites only. questionnaire survey conducted on 400 active users of social networking sites in malaysia found that even though many of respondents’ friends are classmates and university friends,they also make friends with strangers. studies show that more than half of the respondents broaden their friendships built in social networks beyond offline. however,the findings also show their friendship ended with the removing the friends from friends list for some reason. mostly due to less favourable attitude for using obscene language,bad influence,and sexual harassment. this indicates that the friendship on social networking sites sometimes creates weak ties. © 2016,universiti kebangsaan malaysia press. all rights reserved.