Building a social network on facebook for managing romantic love related problems in women

Abstract

This qualitative research employed the participatory action research and case study methods. There are 3 objectives as follows: 1) to investigate social contexts and personal attributes of those entering the designated Facebook network; 2) to examine patterns of relationship in an online social network linking to the management of romantic love problems of women on the Facebook; and 3) to build a model of social network for the management of romantic love problems among women on the Facebook. Data was analyzed by understanding the meanings, typological analysis, data synthesis and interpretation. Findings reveal that the Facebook community can illustrate the relationship among its members in a form of social network which can be explained based on the “Addressee Honorific” norms. The community characterizes the combination of the primary and secondary type according to the Gemeinshaft and Geselshaft concepts. From the target group of 61 observations, their interaction related to the management of love problems can be classified into 4 patterns: 1) parent pattern; although no message interaction about love problem, the relation is the positive, 2) sibling pattern; although no message interaction about love problem, the relationship is more positive than negative, 3) relative pattern; if having the message interaction about love problem, the negative relation does not occur but if non-having the message interaction about love problem, the negative relation occurs, and 4) friend pattern; if non-having the message interaction about love problem, the high negative relation occurs. Additionally, 2 levels of love problem management are found: personal level and group level. Data synthesis for building a model of social network for the management of love problems in women reveals that there are 2 related processes i.e. building process and development process, and 3 cycles including: 1) conceptual cycle, 2) model building cycle, and 3) development cycle. These components are interrelated.