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Jan. 3, 2014 New social networking research by a Western Illinois University faculty member investigates how individuals use Facebook to maintain their friendships.

Last month, an article by WIU Department of Communication Assistant Professor Bree McEwan was published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. For her study, "Sharing, Caring, and Surveilling: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Examination of Facebook Relational Maintenance Strategies," McEwan was interested in finding out how one friend's maintenance behaviors on Facebook might affect how his or her friend felt about the relationship.

"In order to do this, I collected data from friend dyads and used a statistical technique called the 'actor partner interdependence model,' or APIM. An APIM analysis allows researchers to determine the unique effects that both an individual and his or her friend have on the relational outcomes," she explained. "Through the analysis, I found that behaviors an individual uses to show he or she cares about his or her friend, specifically behaviors uniquely directed to the friend, are related to positive relational outcomes, such as increased closeness or satisfaction with the friendship. For example, using Facebook to post on a friend's wall or to share condolences or congratulations are linked to feeling closer to the friend and more satisfied with the friendship; however, sometimes people just post broadcast-style status updates as a way to maintain specific relationships. These types of messages are correlated with negative relational outcomes. In addition, the less an individual posts mass status updates to Facebook, the more that person dislikes it when their friends do so."

According to McEwan, the study supports the idea that using Facebook doesn't necessarily promote relational development nor is it detrimental to friendships.

"Rather, the way we choose to communicate with our friends through this medium is what impacts the relationship," she noted.

McEwan's research is one of several recent projects on human communication and technology from Western's communication department. McEwan and David Zanolla, an instructor in the communication department, also published the article, "When online meets offline: A field investigation of modality switching" in the July 2013 issue of Computers and Human Behavior. Assistant Professor Chris Carpenter published "Exploring romantic relationships on social networking sites using the self-expansion model" in the same issue. In addition, in 2012 Carpenter published "Narcissism on Facebook: Self-promotional and Anti-social Behavior," in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

"Communication scholars are interested in how people use communication technology, such as social media, to facilitate social network connections. In particular, we study how communication technologies intersect with message processes," McEwan added.

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New social network study investigates how people use Facebook to maintain friendships

What? Social networking is vital to online writers, isn't it? After all, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social networking sites are how we promote our work. How could we possibly do our jobs without them? Who would know when we've had something published? How would we spread the word? And where on earth would we go to keep in touch with all our writer friends?

I remember writing online before Facebook.

I actually did quite well. In fact, when I look back at my early days of writing online, I have to admit, when social networking became a "thing" it really had little or no impact on my page views at all. It gave me less time to write, so my income actually decreased a little. There was the increased popularity, of course. People were talking about me more. However, my actual page views were no better or worse.

Search engines still bring me most of my views.

Even after all this time "working" on my social networking skills, most of my page views come from random people searching for answers to random questions online. Now, that may be because I mostly write "evergreen" articles that provide those answers. It may also be because I refuse to annoy people with spammy posts. Whatever the reason, social networking has very little to do with my income. At least not directly.

Remember, you're not the only one promoting your articles.

You don't have to network at all, as long as someone who reads your article does. Now there's a real revelation. Did you know that when someone else links to your article in a post, it's much more valuable than when you do? It increases your "Google Juice." Now, you could say that you have to network to get your articles read by that person. The thing is though, you don't. They could just come across your article while searching, like it and promote it. This is all done without you doing any social networking at all.

How much time per day do writers spend socializing?

It can range from just a few minutes to all day. For those on the heavy end of the equation, that's a lot of wasted writing time. For me, personally, I'd much rather be producing more work, therefore generating more profit, than just talking about it all day. Wouldn't you? Still, I do feel social networking has merits. It does keep me in touch with successful writers who pass on invaluable advice.

The best writers I know....

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Social Networking for Writers - Valuable or Waste of Time?

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Newswise MACOMB, IL New social networking research by a Western Illinois University faculty member investigates how individuals use Facebook to maintain their friendships.

Last month, an article by WIU Department of Communication Assistant Professor Bree McEwan was published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. For her study, "Sharing, Caring, and Surveilling: An ActorPartner Interdependence Model Examination of Facebook Relational Maintenance Strategies," McEwan was interested in finding out how one friend's maintenance behaviors on Facebook might affect how his or her friend felt about the relationship.

"In order to do this, I collected data from friend dyads and used a statistical technique called the 'actor partner interdependence model,' or APIM. An APIM analysis allows researchers to determine the unique effects that both an individual and his or her friend have on the relational outcomes," she explained. "Through the analysis, I found that behaviors an individual uses to show he or she cares about his or her friend, specifically behaviors uniquely directed to the friend, are related to positive relational outcomes, such as increased closeness or satisfaction with the friendship. For example, using Facebook to post on a friend's wall or to share condolences or congratulations are linked to feeling closer to the friend and more satisfied with the friendship; however, sometimes people just post broadcast-style status updates as a way to maintain specific relationships. These types of messages are correlated with negative relational outcomes. In addition, the less an individual posts mass status updates to Facebook, the more that person dislikes it when their friends do so."

According to McEwan, the study supports the idea that using Facebook doesn't necessarily promote relational development nor is it detrimental to friendships.

"Rather, the way we choose to communicate with our friends through this medium is what impacts the relationship," she noted.

McEwan's research is one of several recent projects on human communication and technology from Western's communication department. McEwan and David Zanolla, an instructor in the communication department, also published the article, "When online meets offline: A field investigation of modality switching" in the July 2013 issue of Computers and Human Behavior. Assistant Professor Chris Carpenter published "Exploring romantic relationships on social networking sites using the self-expansion model" in the same issue. In addition, in 2012 Carpenter published "Narcissism on Facebook: Self-promotional and Anti-social Behavior," in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

"Communication scholars are interested in how people use communication technology, such as social media, to facilitate social network connections. In particular, we study how communication technologies intersect with message processes," McEwan added.

For more information, contact McEwan at B-McEwan@wiu.edu.

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WIU Professor's New Social Network Study Investigates How People Use Facebook to Maintain Friendships

Wisconsins declining hog industry got another dose of bad news when a federal report showed that the states hog and pig inventory was reduced by 15,000 head in 2013.

The December hog report by the National Agricultural Statistics Service that was released last Friday showed that the state houses 305,000 hogs, the lowest count for the past 150 years.

The state inventory has declined 32.2 percent since 2007, according to NASS data.

Its an uphill struggle, said Dave Wachter, Grant County UW-Extensions dairy and livestock agent, who co-authored a report last year on the state hog industry.

Besides showing the 5 percent decline in total hogs from 2012, the NASS report showed that breeding hogs declined 15 percent since 2012 and market hogs declined 3 percent.

Wisconsins hog farm numbers were the worst among Midwest states that included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.

The increasing cost of feed has been a killer to the state hog industry, Wachter said.

He also said that it takes a substantial investment to start, or keep, a hog farm going in a state that has a lack of infrastructure such as slaughterhouses, specialized veterinary care and suppliers.

Most people dont want to make that investment. And lets face it: People dont want them as neighbors, Wachter said.

The national inventory of hogs and pigs was down 1 percent from December 2012 and 2 percent from September 2012. That is a clear sign that the highly infectious Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus is affecting farms across the country, an industry expert said.

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State hog numbers continue to plummet

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