Contrary to common belief social media websites such as Facebook do not weaken personal ties, they strengthen them in unique ways for different age groups, according to a new study.

The rapid spread of Facebook, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, has prompted concerns about its negative effects, but researchers at the University of Texas have reached a different conclusion.

"Our findings suggest that Facebook is not supplanting¹ face-to-face interactions between friends, family and colleagues," said S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV and film who headed the research team.

"In fact, we believe there is sufficient evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy² and community."

The researchers questioned 900 college students and recent graduates about how and with whom they interact on Facebook.

More than 60 percent of Facebook users said posting status updates was among the most popular activities, followed by 60 percent who wrote comments on their profile and 49 percent who posted messages and comments to friends.

The researchers also found that although about the same number of men and women use Facebook, they do so in different ways.

"There is a noteworthy difference in orientation³ in how to use a tool like Facebook. We found that for women the content tends to be more affectionate, and (they) are especially interested in using it for connection," said Watkins.

"For men, it's more functional," he added.

Watkins pointed⁴ out that, for example, women are more likely to post pictures of social gatherings⁵ with friends, while men are more likely to post pictures of hobbies, or post a political or pop-culture related link.

一项新研究表明，Facebook等社交网站并不会削弱人与人之间的关系，反而会以其独特的方式加强不同年龄群体的联系，而这与人们的普遍看法相反。

Facebook发展十分迅速，目前全球用户量已超过5亿，这也使得人们开始担忧其负面影响，但德克萨斯大学的研究人员得出了不同的结论。

研究小组负责人S•克雷格•沃特金斯是广播、电视和电影学的副教授，他说：“我们的研究表明，Facebook并没有取代朋友、家人和同事间面对面的交流。”

“事实上，我们认为，有足够的证据表明，社交媒体为友情、亲密感情、和共享提供了新的表达方式。”

共有900名大学生和新近的毕业生参与了该调查，他们被问及在Facebook网站上的互动方式及对象。

超过60%的Facebook用户称，他们最喜欢更新个人状态，另有60%的用户喜欢在个人资料中添加评论，还有49%的用户会给好友发送信息及评论。

研究人员还发现，尽管使用Facebook的男女用户人数大致相等，但其使用方式却有所差异。

沃特金斯说：“男女在使用Facebook这样的社交工具时，定位有显著差异。我们发现女性的页面内容一般会更感性，她们特别喜欢通过页面内容和别人建立联系。”

他补充道：“而男性则更注重其功能。”

沃特金斯举例指出，女性更喜欢上传好友社交聚会的照片，而男性则更喜欢上传业余爱好的照片，或者是政治或流行文化的相关链接。