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New Media & Society
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Media use and relational closeness in long-term friendships: interpreting patterns of multimodality

Andrew M. Ledbetter

University of Kansas, USA, aledbett{at}ku.edu

Although most friendships use a variety of media to stay in touch, many studies have ignored the multimodality of social life. This study uses media niche theory to consider: changes in patterns of media use across time, which modalities tend to be used in association with other modalities; and the association between specific modalities and relational closeness. Data assessing modality usage and degree of friendship closeness were collected on best friendship pairs in 1987 and 2002. The results suggest that postal mail use has declined between 1987 and 2002, telephone contact has become a particularly potent predictor of relational closeness, and face-to-face contact is a less stable indicator of closeness. Intimacy and efficiency or convenience emerge as two potentially important constructs for understanding how modalities are used for maintaining relational closeness.

Key Words: best friendship • email • face-to-face • media niche • longitudinal • postal mail • relational maintenance • telephone

New Media & Society, Vol. 10, No. 4, 547-564 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444808091224
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A. M. Ledbetter
Patterns of media use and multiplexity: associations with sex, geographic distance and friendship interdependence
New Media Society, November 1, 2009; 11(7): 1187 - 1208.
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