Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366

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Computers in Human Behavior

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Late adolescent identity definition and intimate disclosure on Facebook

Zayira Jordán-Conde a,1, Brian Mennecke b,⇑, Anthony Townsend b,2
a
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, 377 P. de León Ave., Hato Rey, PR 00918, United States
b
College of Business, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: During the last decade, online social networks such as Facebook™ (Facebook) grew rapidly in popularity
Available online 9 August 2013 and this was due in no small measure to use of these media by adolescents. For many teenagers and
young adults, Facebook represents a social institution that can be used by adolescents not only for shar-
Keywords: ing basic information and for connecting with others, but also as a platform for exploring and divulging
Facebook information about their identities. To examine issues related to questions about the formation and dis-
Adolescent closure of identity-related information by late adolescents, this study investigates the relationship
Identity
between disclosures of intimate information by late adolescents through Facebook and their stage of psy-
Intimacy
Disclosure
chosocial development. To examine disclosure behaviors of young college students on Facebook, we con-
Social networking site ducted focus groups in conjunction with a content analysis of Facebook profiles. Findings point to an
extended adolescence period resting on the identity construction dilemma posed by digital social
networks.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Late adolescents represent a particularly important group to

Online social networks such as Facebook™ (Facebook) became
mainstream in a relatively short amount of time due in large part
to their popularity among adolescents. As a result of its popularity
Facebook became more than merely a medium of communication;
it achieved a level of recognition and influence as a new sort of so-
cial institution for sharing information and for finding and con-
necting with others. Yet, this medium has not been without
controversy and risks. In fact, much of the early attention by the
news media on social networks focused on the amount and depth
of intimate information adolescents posted on their profiles. For in-
stance, in 2007, a number of media outlets reported on a case
involving a 14-year old girl who had sued MySpace™ alleging that
the company was instrumental in the sexual assault she had suf-
fered at the hands of an adult user (MSNBC, 2006). Controversy re-
lated to public disclosures of personal information continues and
brings to the fore the fact that social networks are public portals
containing ‘‘vaults’’ of information about individuals who willingly
divulge personal information for others to consume and dissemi-
nate. This raises the question of why one of the prominent groups
of users of social network sites, late adolescents, divulge the infor-
mation that they do in these public forums, and how this process of
divulgence is aligned with their evolving identity formation.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 515 294 8100.
E-mail addresses: zjordan@pupr.edu (Z. Jordán-Conde), mennecke@iastate.edu
(B. Mennecke), amt@iastate.edu (A. Townsend).
1
Tel.: +1 787 622 8000x456.
2
Tel.: +1 515 294 7934.
study in the context of identity formation and representation not
only to understand why and how they use (or misuse) applications
like Facebook, but also because their identities change as they un-
dergo the transition from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, it
is important to understand late adolescent behaviors and motiva-
tions because many in this age range do not have a fully-developed
awareness and understanding of the ‘‘public and persistent’’ (Len-
hart & Madden, 2007, p. 3) nature of the information they publish
online, which often seems to clash with their perception of social
network sites as private spaces. This is confounded by the fact that
many late adolescents are challenged to establish and maintain
their popularity during a period of self-definition and, as a result,
many actively negotiate the boundaries of their intimacy amid
the constant interactions they engage in with their Facebook
‘‘friends.’’ Moreover, even with the availability of features that al-
low users to manage the privacy of their profiles (i.e., the settings
that determine who can gain access to their information), many
late adolescent Facebook users keep their information open to
the general public or to large numbers of peers (De Souzaa & Dick,
2009; Gross & Acquisti, 2005; Raynes-Goldie, 2010).
According to Erikson (1959), adolescence is a period when
young people begin to establish their sense of self identity. For
example, some adolescents, those who have not committed to
their identities, can be said to be at ‘‘moratorium’’ (relative to their
identity formation) while others who have made commitments to
a fixed identity are said to be in ‘‘achievement.’’ Shaping personal
identities and resolving identity crises are processes that are
played out, Erickson states, in many types of social interactions

0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.015
 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
and at many different times during adolescence. In the case of to-
day’s young people, a substantial part of these interactions is
increasingly computer-mediated.
The purported abandonment of the privacy norm with regard to
their on-line representation by late adolescents may be related to
the identity formation stage they are in. For them, the portrayal
of a distant and disconnected self could represent the ideal context
for resolving the identity crisis characteristic of this developmental
stage. The virtual presence offered by a Facebook profile, persistent
but undemanding, may stand as a convenient outlet for young peo-
ple to use and discard aspects of their representation as they come
to terms with the commitments they must make in order to move
onto their lives as adults. Lessig (2000) argues that software code is
a form of social architecture, and undoubtedly, the most important
architectural feature that social networks possess is the sociality
they enable. In their meta-analysis of the literature on online social
networks, boyd and Ellison (2007) argue that ‘‘available research
suggests that most social networks primarily support pre-existing
social relations’’ (boyd & Ellison, 2007, p. 12). These social interac-
tions offer a new virtual context where late adolescents resolve the
identity crises that for centuries have played out in face to face
interactions.
Contrary to the social technologies enabled by early computers,
the most controversial characteristics of the current versions of so-
cial software are the visibility of information about the adolescent
and the friendship paradigm, both of which have proven conflictive
as they disrupt the balance of real life social performances. boyd
(2006) argues that ‘‘friendship helps people write community into
being in social network sites’’ (p. 1). Most, if not all, of the social
networks analyzed by boyd (2006) have resorted to a ‘‘culture of
friending’’ as the resolution of a conflict between social tensions
that resulted from technological limitations (p. 2). That is, in order
to be technically viable, the software negated the nuances related
to the various levels of intimacy and commitment that human rela-
tionships entail. Language was dichotomized as developers obvi-
ated the nuanced conventions that regulate the boundaries of
privacy in social interaction. boyd (2006) points out that, in these
sites, ‘‘friending is deeply affected by both social processes and
technological affordances’’ (p. 1). As a result of the limitations im-
posed by code, users see a need to cope with the system by con-
firming others as ‘‘friends’’ when they have not come to share
the time and commitment this type of relationship calls for in real
life (boyd, 2006, p. 4). boyd and Ellison (2007) claim that ‘‘by acting
as a tool for ‘saving face,’ the friending function can operate as a
catalyst for social drama’’ (p. 11).
In this light, this study asks an important set of research ques-
tions about the formation and disclosure of identity-related infor-
mation by late adolescents; that is, what are the factors that
influence late adolescents in their disclosure of intimate informa-
tion on Facebook and how are disclosure behaviors manifest in
this venue? We suggest that disclosure of intimacy on Facebook
is influenced by identity status, where late adolescents undergo-
ing an identity crisis known as moratorium are expected to dis-
close more intimate information than those who have settled
identity commitments for adult life. This study also provides an
account of the understanding late adolescents (college students
18–21) have of Facebook as a tool for social interaction, and re-
ports on their attitudes and perceptions about the privacy issues
related to its use. Facebook profiles are examined to expose the
relationship between the psychosocial stage of development and
willingness to disclose intimate information online. The findings
illustrate online communication practices by late adolescents on
Facebook. The study therefore also aims to determine the kinds
of intimate information adolescents disclose on Facebook and
the reasoning and decision-making associated with these
behaviors.
357
2. Theory
2.1. Young people and computers
In the last 20 years, individuals and society have been greatly
affected by the phenomenal developments of technology, particu-
larly communication technology. The so-called ‘‘net generation’’
(Tapscott, 1998) has become what anthropologist Mead (1973)
would have called a ‘‘prefigurative society’’ where the young teach
the old the competencies to function properly in society; in this
case, how to use and deal with computer-supported social interac-
tions. One of the first researchers to address people’s relationships
with computers was Sherry Turkle. By the 1980s, Turkle (1984)
was already documenting children’s fascination with computers
and their relation to them. As technology became more ubiquitous
and applied to daily life, Turkle (1995) noted that the traditional
notion people held about the ‘‘division’’ between humans and ma-
chine was receding. She found that understandings of the real and
the virtual were being restructured to accommodate ‘‘computers’
representations of the world as the world’’ (p. 63). In effect, com-
puters have come to be considered by younger people who are
accustomed to them as a sort of intelligent object or ‘‘objects to
think with’’ (p. 47).
This phenomenon played out in the early part of the last decade
as social networks proliferated and were often adopted first by
adolescents. In 2005, a study by the Pew Research Center for the
People and the Press on teenage use of technology confirmed that
most young people had at that time made the internet an impor-
tant venue for social interactions (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin,
2005) and that a majority of teens had profiles online in social net-
works like MySpace and Facebook (Lenhart & Madden, 2007). The
Pew studies’ reported how adolescents’ online communication
practices demonstrated incipient tendencies that influenced the
behaviors of late adolescents. An implication of these uses of social
networks by members of the net generation means that adoles-
cents could extend their social networks beyond the limits of phys-
ical proximity. Clearly, how they disclose information about
themselves and the way they do so often exceeds the traditional
social norms for the regulation of privacy. Processes that used to
take place privately or among a very limited set of friends are
now enacted before a much wider online audience.
Why do late adolescents disclose intimate information through
Facebook? To answer this question, some theories have proposed
that young people go through a period of transformation charac-
terized by tensions that accompany the development of personal
identities (Erikson, 1959; Vadeboncoeur, 2005). Young people,
these theories suggest, negotiate meanings that help establish per-
sonal identity through social networks, whether these are online or
offline. In the next section we review several of the important the-
oretical frameworks that examine factors influencing psychosocial
development through the period of adolescence.
2.2. Adolescent development and identity formation
The era following the industrial revolution has been
characterized by an increasing physical separation of adults from
their children. As a consequence, young people today spend less
time with adults and family members and more time with peers.
Furthermore, unlike other societies where rites of passage clearly
mark the transition from childhood to adulthood, most western
cultures do not have formal rituals marking the individual’s com-
ing of age, which makes demarcating the boundaries between
childhood and adulthood a challenge for children and adults. Stan-
ley Hall, the ‘‘father of adolescence,’’ proposed that this develop-
mental stage is part of a cumulative process leading to adulthood
358 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366

(Vadeboncoeur, 2005, p. 3). Hall is responsible for the widely ac-
cepted notion of adolescence as a period of ‘‘storm and stress’’ (p.
57) where individuals are seen as incomplete and have yet to at-
tain a bona fide status as fully integrated members of society. All
these conditions position adolescents at a liminal state in society
where the individual is neither a child nor an adult. The neither-
nor stage of adolescence helps foster an implied societal agreement
that they should be accorded time to experiment with their iden-
tities before they commit to an adult identification (i.e., the adoles-
cent makes a commitment to a chosen role or value).
One of the most influential theories about adolescence as a
stage of identity crisis is that proposed by Erikson (1959) where
adolescence is viewed to be a period of identity definition in which
‘‘the individual seeks to balance ecological and internal factors to
achieve the fixation of an identity’’ (p. 245). The adolescent’s task,
identity definition, is achieved only ‘‘when the individual has sub-
ordinated his childhood identifications to a new kind of identifica-
tion achieved by absorbing sociability and in competitive
apprenticeship with and among his age mates’’ (p. 155). The affil-
iations resulting from this critical period lead to commitments the
individual engages in ‘‘for life’’ (p. 155). Erikson holds that the mor-
atorium granted adolescents is a period of ‘‘free role experimenta-
tion’’ followed by the desire to ‘‘find a niche in some section of his
society, a niche which is firmly defined and yet seems to be un-
iquely made for him’’ (p. 156). The moratorium stage is character-
ized by a need for recognition and in delaying ‘‘adult
commitments,’’ allowing the individual a ‘‘provocative playful-
ness’’ (p. 157) of which he or she may not be aware.
Erikson suggests that the negotiation of identity is a struggle
that is solved mainly as a result of adolescents’ interactions with
others who, in line with Cooley’s (1964) tenets, act as ‘‘mirror(s)
to the self’’ (p. 8). Erikson confirms Cooley’s notion of the social
construction of the self when he declares that adolescents ‘‘are
sometimes morbidly, often curiously, preoccupied with what they
appear to be in the eyes of others as compared with what they feel
they are’’ (1968, p. 128). Erikson’s theory offers a basis for under-
standing the ‘‘playful’’ use of intimacy in online interactions
through Facebook. Erickson explains that young people who have
not defined their identity do not involve themselves in intimacy,
but throw themselves ‘‘into acts of intimacy which are ‘promiscu-
ous’ without true fusion or real self-abandon’’ (p. 135).
Rawlins (1992) supports Erikson’s contentions and states that
‘‘adolescents achieve their self-definition communicatively in con-
junction with their social networks’’ (p. 59). Like Erikson, Rawlins
argues that friends aid adolescents in the process of articulating
identity. According to Rawlins, identity and intimacy are closely re-
lated in adolescence as young people test the taken-for-granted
identities they play out in front of the family against the identities
acquired from peer culture.
Marcia (1966) built on Erikson’s work by proposing four sta-
tuses of identity characteristic associated with this developmental
period (Table 1). He also identified two dimensions of identity that
were later developed by Adams (1998) into a quantitative instru-
ment; that is, the ideological (i.e., occupational, religious, political
and philosophical life-style values, goals, and standards) and the
interpersonal (i.e., aspects of friendship, dating, sex roles, and rec-
reational choices). Marcia sees identity formation as a process in
which there are two possible paths, both of which start with the
individual at diffusion status in which he/she is tied to childhood
identifications and commitments. In the first path, the individual
goes directly to a foreclosure status that fixes commitments bound
by childhood identifications. In the second path, the individual
undergoes a crisis at the moratorium stage, where he/she experi-
ments with different commitments until he/she determines that
certain characteristics are suitable for moving onto adulthood
thereby entering the identity achievement status. According to
Adams (1998), individuals can be at different statuses as they go
through the two dimensions of identity, ideological and interper-
sonal; that is, a person can be at one status in terms of ideological
commitments (religious and political) and another status in terms
of interpersonal commitments (dating, sex roles). Adams’ survey,
used in this study, measures these two dimensions as two distinct
constructs.
Both, Erikson and Marcia stress the importance of friends in
helping to discern commitments. Some scholars claim that identity
negotiations at this critical period may have changed in the last
few decades as the emergence of adulthood is delayed in response
to further societal constraints. A number of factors may be at the
root of this shift, such as higher societal expectations (i.e., more
schooling, higher costs of living) and the increasing amount of
identity playfulness allowed in the virtual scenarios of the web.
Further, because of changes in social structures, the consequences
of sexual behavior, the pressures of college life, and health issues,
among others, the struggles at moratorium are now played out on-
line. In other words, Facebook now functions as a venue in which
late adolescents can navigate the difficult moratorium stage.
According to Erikson’s (1968) theory, moratorium individuals
should disclose more than those in the achievement status.
According to Marcia’s definition, the moratorium stage is charac-
terized by a lack of commitments and a struggle to identify those
commitments. In this regard, the relationship between commit-
ments and identity status is examined by tracking relevant Face-
book fields in which these commitments may be stated. This
monitoring of the cues provided by Facebook friends provides a
principle evaluative mechanism for the adolescent. Goffman
(1959) suggests that the expression of identity is done for a specific
audience; in this case, the identity is being developed for a specific
audience, and the feedback cues indicate quite explicitly how the
presentation is being received. Because the goal at this stage is
the adolescent’s identity definition, these cues function to inform
the adolescent as to whether the portrayal they intend is the por-
trayal that their Facebook friends are observing.
2.3. Intimacy and disclosure
Wheeless (1978) posits that due to a tendency toward general
disclosiveness, people tend to trust their interlocutor when they
do not know each other well enough or when their relationships
‘‘are only moderately solid’’ (p. 145). Following Wheeless’ defini-
tion, we define disclosiveness as the general tendency to disclose

Table 1
Adolescent identity statuses according to Marcia (1966). Marcia identified two dimensions: interpersonal and ideological and four possible stages of development: diffusion,
moratorium, foreclosure, and achievement.

Adolescent identity
Interpersonal
Diffusion
The subject ‘‘may or may not have
experienced a crisis period; his
hallmark is a lack of commitment.’’
Moratorium
The subject is ‘‘in the crisis period with
commitments rather vague’’ but on an
‘‘active struggle’’ to make those
Ideological
Foreclosure
The subject has preemptively
committed himself without
‘‘having experienced a crisis.’’
Achievement
The subject ‘‘has experienced a crisis
period and is committed to an
occupation and ideology.’’
 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
intimate information to a stranger. Rather than referring to ‘‘any
message about the self,’’ intimate self disclosure in this study re-
lates to the elicitation of information of an intimate character,
what Greene, Delega, & Mathews (in Gibbs, Ellison, & Heino,
2006, p. 155) catalog as the ‘‘highly personal,’’ of the type usually
disclosed in a romantic relationship (p. 156).
Intimacy has traditionally been seen as a relational goal in dya-
dic relationships, generally in married couples. However, an indi-
vidual can categorize information as more or less intimate in
response to his/her anticipated audience and context of the mes-
sage. This study applies the concept of intimacy in the classifica-
tion of information about a person by the individual himself,
which follows Jourard and Jaffe’s (1970) approach by measuring
the content of elicitations or the topic’s ‘‘intimacy value’’ (p. 134).
Moon’s (2000) findings demonstrating how computers affect
consumers’ willingness to release intimate information showed
that disclosures are influenced by the medium used for communi-
cation. Specifically, Moon (2000) found that people showed more
resistance to giving out emotive information about themselves to
a computer compared to less emotional content (p. 333). Moon’s
list of topics is used in the current study to guide our examination
of the intimacy of topics. By determining the amount of intimate
disclosures participants engage in on Facebook, the present study
seeks to assess the impact of a virtual setting in the exercise of dis-
closive behaviors.
2.4. Presence in computer mediated communication (CMC)
The presence literature suggests that computer-mediated pres-
ence is a perception that is dependent upon: (1) the medium’s abil-
ity to make itself transparent, (2) its capacity to convey acceptable
sensorial input, (3) its capacity to portray natural mobility and con-
trol over the environment, (4) the type of representation it enables,
and (5) the exposure the user has had to it (Biocca, Harms, & Bur-
goon, 2003; Lee, 2000; Lombard & Ditton, 1997; Zhao, 2003).
According to these precepts, in a continuum of computer-mediated
channels, social networks sites should offer a reduced sense of
presence when compared to that of the real world. The reduced
presence offered by CMC (i.e. social networking sites, or SNSs)
may act as a buffer that users manipulate many times to purposely
control their messages. It could also act as a hurdle for conveying
messages that could, in turn, cause an increase in the amount of
information provided and the number of disclosures contained
therein.
Walther (2007) proposed his hyperpersonal model of com-
puter-mediated communication, in which ‘‘users exploit the tech-
nological aspects in order to enhance the messages they construct
to manage impressions and facilitate desired relationships’’ (p.
2538). For Walther, hyperpersonal stands for the ‘‘potential exag-
geration of impressions and relationships online’’ (p. 2539).
According to his model, online communication tends to contribute
to the creation of idealized notions about partners and may even
‘‘create dynamic feedback loops wherein the exaggerated expec-
tancies are confirmed and reciprocated through mutual interaction
via the bias-prone communication processes’’ (p. 2539). Walther
contends that the absence of cues normally associated with face-
to-face interaction restricts the message, causing less ‘‘leakage’’
(p. 2541). The sensory and cognitive focus of the interaction is then
redirected to the creation of the message. The reduced cues, due to
the affordances of the medium, are taken advantage of by the user
who exaggerates those characteristics he/she wishes to call atten-
tion to (p. 2552). Interestingly, Walther argues that CMC, as com-
pared to face-to-face interactions, leads to ‘‘more extreme
impressions’’ and ‘‘more positive relations over time’’ (p. 2539).
The tendency of young people to go beyond the norm of privacy
to make an impression online seems to conform with Walther’s
359
contention that intimate details are becoming an integral part of
self portrayal online.
Tidwell and Walther (2002) also focused on self disclosure and
impression formation as a function of the medium’s capacity. Their
results support Walther’s hyperpersonal theory. They found that in
comparison to face-to-face (FtF) interaction, people rated each
other lower in various interpersonal perceptual attributes during
CMC, but they rated them with more extreme scores. In other
words, there was ‘‘more selective and yet exaggerated social infor-
mation sharing online, consistent with the hyperpersonal ap-
proach’’ (Tidwell & Walther, 2002, p. 319). Tidwell and Walther
(2002) used uncertainty reduction theory (URT) to explain how
people exchange information online:
Our findings indicate that the restrictions of CMC prompt users’
adaptation to the medium through modification of uncertainty
reduction behaviors. Bereft of most nonverbal cues, CMC partners
forgo the peripheral questions and answers that mark the normal,
superficial exchanges among new acquaintances in FtF encounters.
Instead, CMC interactants appeared to employ a greater proportion
of more direct, interactive uncertainty reduction strategies—inter-
mediate questioning and disclosing with their partners—than did
their FtF counterparts. (p. 338)
Similarly, Rubin (1975) argues that the honesty with which
some individuals present themselves online is a function of the
‘‘passing stranger’’ phenomenon. Rubin proposes that individuals
are more willing to reveal information to people they consider
inconsequential acquaintances (Gibbs et al., 2006; Rubin, 1975).
Sproull and Kiesler (1991) found that disembodied interactions en-
able participants to be ‘simultaneously linked to and buffered from
one another’’ (p. 30). This buffer effect, given in a less-embodied
interaction afforded by Facebook, may help explain the perception
that an increased disclosure is needed to get the message across.
The level of intimate details young people reveal online appears
to be influenced by several factors. O’Sullivan (2000) argues that
although research on privacy boundary management generally
seems to indicate that mediated channels are actively sought as a
way to control privacy, the mediation effect seems to foster looser
boundaries among adolescents (p. 425). That is, adolescents think
that ‘‘little vulnerability to privacy violations exist’’ through these
channels where they actively vent out their secrets to others (p.
425). The studies on presence indicate that the strategies people
resort to in CMC are partially a function of the capacity of the chan-
nel to convey their message. The sense of presence sparked by var-
ious online media is directly related to the strategies people use to
make up for the perceived loss of cues. These studies and similar
research on presence and CMC suggest that, in the context of social
networks like Facebook, disclosure of intimate information is dri-
ven by the feeling of being there, the sense of presence, and, for late
adolescents, this interacts with the identity crisis characteristic of
this developmental stage and the user’s goals of using the media
to negotiate boundaries of their intimacy.
2.5. A model for adolescent identity definition and disclosure of
intimacy online
Peers are very important in adolescent life. Many of today’s ado-
lescents employ social network sites in their interactions with
peers to achieve a sense of popularity and self-validation. We posit
that Facebook ‘‘friends’’ are used as a reference group to help de-
fine norms and standards and to validate ‘‘ways of being’’ adoles-
cents wrestle with prior to committing to a fixed identity. In this
sense, Facebook, along with other social network sites, is bound
to create a culture with an impact on identity development.
360 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
The network, rather than being just a place to ‘‘hang out’’
(boyd, 2007), is a place where adolescents negotiate identity
uncontrived by physicality or real life social norms. The perfor-
mance of the self online, the virtual ‘‘me,’’ is an extension of
the real life (RL) self that allows creative ways of testing facets
of identity. Faced with RL conditions burdening the process of
identity definition, adolescents have moved to the web. Namely,
they use Facebook as an ideal venue for negotiating the morato-
rium phase that allows them to play out aspects of a yet unfixed
identity.
Fig. 1 diagrams a model that is in line with Erikson’s psychoso-
cial development theory, which proposes identity definition as the
major task facing moratorium adolescents on Facebook. Through
their Facebook profiles, adolescents work on defining their iden-
tity, simultaneously balancing the need for privacy with their de-
sire for validation and popularity. This study proposes that
Facebook acts as a venue for young people who might just want
some time to deal with themselves—a time to decide who they
are—with their ‘‘friends’’ in the virtual realm.
Concentric circles in Fig. 1 represent adolescent’s social world
in two different contexts: real life and the virtual world of so-
cial networking sites. The disclosures are indicated by arrows
flowing from and toward the individual to indicate negotiations
of real life identity as theorized by Erikson (1968). In real life,
the network surrounding the individual is contained, limited in
number, and largely ‘‘visible’’ because the social networks sup-
ported by face-to-face interaction are constrained by the num-
ber of people the individual can personally reach. The arrows
flowing toward the box to the right represent disclosures made
by the individual when using his/her computer to access Face-
book. The box stands for the devices (software and hardware)
modulating the individual’s interaction through a computer. As
the literature on presence suggests, the medium has reduced
capacity to convey information (compared to real life), creating
a buffering effect that motivates an increase in disclosures both
in terms of the intimacy of the content and in amount of con-
tent available. Furthermore, in Facebook, although the individ-
ual’s disclosures are directed to an intended audience, there
are unintended audiences that add to the locus of effect of inti-
mate disclosures.
3. Methods
To gather data for this study, multiple research methods were
employed. By using a multi-methods approach we seek to address
the call by McGrath (1982) and others to cross methodological
boundaries to address important research questions. These data
were collected in two phases. In Phase 1, we conducted an
exploratory focus group session. The purpose of the focus group
was to surface and assess the general concerns and practices
young college students associate with Facebook. Furthermore,
we also used this session to identify relevant terminology and
technology features identified as important to late adolescent
users of Facebook. In Phase 2, we conducted a quantitative study
to examine the primary research questions. Specifically, we con-
ducted a content analysis of Facebook users’ profiles to determine
the intimate topics frequently disclosed online and the ways by
which these topics are disclosed. We also surveyed the subjects
whose profiles we examined to identify their stage of develop-
ment as well as other pertinent demographic and attitudinal
information. The goals of this approach were to obtain a general
understanding of Facebook as seen by adolescents and to com-
pare and contrast moratorium and achievement individuals to
gain an understanding of the differences on intimacy disclosure
by identity status.
3.1. Phase 1: Exploratory focus group
A group of six males and three females aged 18–21 were re-
cruited from the student population at Iowa State University in
the United States. Because the subjects were taking an advanced
computer course, these students were knowledgeable about com-
puters and their many uses. A moderator helped guide the conver-
sation. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, students were asked
about how they see Facebook, in what ways do they use this appli-
cation, their perceptions of the impact of Facebook on everyday
life, what they disclose about themselves in their profiles, and their
expectations for the future of Facebook. The focus group session
was videotaped and audio-recorded and complementary notes
were taken during the session. The transcripts of these proceedings
were analyzed for emerging themes. The purpose of this prelimin-
ary research was to better inform the data collection and to obtain
an understanding of the trends, practices, and interests related to
disclosure of intimate information on the site.
3.2. Phase 2: Content analyses
3.2.1. Survey
First and second year students from the design college at the re-
searcher’s institution were targeted for this research because stu-
dents in this status would be undergoing or would recently have
undergone the first round of screening to be admitted to a very
selective design major (i.e., graphic design, a program with narrow
enrollment limits). Our expectation was that these students would
be likely to discuss their experience and whether they were admit-
ted to or rejected from the program, a topic that, among others,
was of an intimate nature. To attract these students to the study,
e-mail messages were sent to approximately 300 freshmen and
sophomores in this program to solicit their participation in a sur-
vey and the content analysis. Those who indicated an interest were
instructed to complete an online questionnaire including a section
in which participants were asked to rate intimate topics and Ben-
nion and Adams (1986) EOMEIS-2 scale measuring identity status.
Participants were also asked to accept the researcher as a Facebook
friend and join a Facebook group specific to the research. A total of
45 students participated in the survey. From these, 25 students (14
females, 11 males) agreed to allow the researcher to monitor their
profile pages.
Moon’s (2000) study of intimate exchanges during CMC interac-
tions was used as the basis for the items included in the intimacy
rankings. Participants rated the topics (1) favorite pastimes/hob-
bies, (2) self-pride, (3) anger management, (4) feelings and atti-
tudes about death, (5) self-discontent (personality), (6) self-
discontent (physical), (7) frustrations, (8) sexual behaviors, (9)
guilt, (10) emotional aspects of self, and (11) dislikes about others)
using a Likert scale (0–5 where 0 meant ‘‘not intimate at all’’ and 5
meant ‘‘extremely intimate’’) to indicate the intimacy value they
allocated to said topics.
Ego identity status was measured using Bennion and Adams’
(1986) EOMEIS-2 scale where two dimensions of identity were
measured: ideological identity and interpersonal identity. Ideolog-
ical identity includes ‘‘occupational, religious, political and philo-
sophical life-style values, goals, and standards’’ while social
orinterpersonal identity involves aspects of friendship, dating, sex
roles, and recreational choices (Adams, 1998). The EOMEIS-2 was
developed through an iterative process based on Marcia’s identity
framework. This scale has been repeatedly tested for validity and
has been shown to reliably reflect Marcia’s identity status con-
structs (Adams, 1998; Bergh & Erling, 2005).
Identity status was calculated by coding the answers to the 64-
items in the scale and determining a score that indicated one of
four statuses. Adams explains:
 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366 361

Fig. 1. Model for adolescents’ identity negotiations and disclosure of Intimacy on Facebook. The model shows disclosures by adolescents in the real world, the medium
(computer) represented in the box and the larger circle representing social networking sites such as Facebook with its unintended audience.

This 64-item scale utilizes 32 items to assess ideological identity in 6. Religious views: Open text
the domains of occupation, politics, religion, and philosophical life- 7. Favorite quotes: Open text
style; and 32 items to assess interpersonal identity in the domains 8. About me: Open text
of sex roles, friendship, recreation, and dating. (p. 26).
Education and work section
Each item in the scale is related to a dimension and identity sta-
tus as shown in Table 2. The reliability test of the identity status
1. College/University: Open text
scale resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81.
2. Concentration: Open text
3. Second concentration: Open text
3.2.2. Content analysis
4. Third concentration: Open text
A content analysis of the subjects’ Facebook profiles was con-
5. Degree: Open text
ducted to gain an insight into participants’ intimacy disclosure
practices. Those who completed the survey questionnaire and pro-
All the fields were coded for changes over time. In other words,
vided consent to access to their Facebook profiles constituted the
if any of these fields changed after initial capture in the subsequent
source sample for this part of the study. A total of 25 profiles were
seven ‘‘snapshots’’ captured over a 4-week period, the coders noted
captured twice a week for a period of 4 weeks. After data collec-
each change. The ‘‘status update,’’ favorite quotes,’’ and ‘‘about me’’
tion, images and fields that were not pertinent to the current study
fields were included in the count of intimacy topics. Specifically,
were deleted. A text file was created for each participant that in-
coders searched for the occurrence of the three topics identified
cluded information retrieved from the various fields analyzed.
by subjects in their survey responses as highly intimate in the inti-
The fields analyzed were:
macy value ranking: feelings and attitudes toward death, sexual
Basic information section
behaviors, and emotional aspects of self.
Facebook’s Wall was also captured and analyzed to determine
1. Status update: A text string that is often used to inform friends
the number of disclosures of intimate topics. The Wall is a bulletin
of a mood, change, or special event in the profile owner’s life.
board that allows Facebook users to publish messages (i.e., post-
2. Relationship status: This field asks the profile owner to indicate
ings) directed to a profile owner that can be seen by others. The
whether he/she is ‘‘single, in a relationship, engaged, married,
visible (public) postings on friends’ walls were also captured. Only
it’s complicated, or in an open relationship.’’
friends who had privacy settings allowing the researcher access to
3. Looking for: This field asks the profile owner to indicate whether
their ‘‘public’’ profiles were included in this analysis. Postings re-
he/she is looking for ‘‘friendship, dates, a relationship, or
lated to emotional aspects of the self were considered only if they
networks.’’
were related to the basic emotions identified by Parrott (2001):
4. Birthday: The user’s options to control the visibility of this field
love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear. The objective of this
include: showing the full date, month and day only, or not
phase of the study was to have a first-hand view of the disclosure
show.
of highly intimate topics participants engaged in on Facebook.
5. Political views: Open text
To evaluate the reliability of the coding, a pilot test was carried
Table 2
out to test inter-coder reliability. Two female coders (aged over 25)
EOMEIS-2 distribution of items according to dimension and status. with a general understanding of the study were trained to code.
They were provided instructions for coding in an orientation and
Achievement Moratorium Diffusion Foreclosure
question/answer session to discuss each of the fields to be coded
Ideology subscales as well as the definitions of each of the intimacy items to be coded.
Occupation 33, 49 9, 57 1, 25 17, 41
Religion 18, 42 26, 34 2, 10 50, 58
The coders in this pre-test brought up important clarifications and
Politics 8, 40 32, 48 16,56 24, 64 their suggestions to strengthen validity were integrated into the fi-
Philosophy 20, 60 12, 36 4, 52 28, 44 nal coding protocols.
Interpersonal subscales After the initial pre-test, a female and a male coder over the age
Friendship 13, 45 5, 61 29, 53 21, 37 of 18 who were blind to the purpose of the study were trained
Dating 15, 55 31, 47 7, 23 39, 63 using the codebook, instructions, and definitions refined during
Sex roles 35, 51 11, 43 19, 59 3, 27
the pre-test to review text files of the Facebook profile captures.
Recreation 22, 46 14, 54 6, 30 38, 62
The number of changes through time was tracked for the 13 fields.
362 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366

Table 3 people they met in real life. Participants indicated they actively
Inter-coder reliability for changes over time. managed their profile settings; however, they did not have in-
Percent Scott’s Cohen’s Krippendorff’s depth knowledge of the privacy controls available in Facebook.
agreement Pi Kappa Alpha Concerning representations of identity, the main topic partici-
Status update 100 1 1 1 pants were concerned about was the publication of photos in
Favorite quotes 96 0.90 0.90 0.90 which they were ‘‘tagged.’’ Most of them said they would ‘‘de-
About me 100 1 1 1 tag’’ photos because they did not want to be perceived negatively
Birthday 100 1 1 1
Relationship status 96 0.92 0.92 0.92
and out of context. A female participant claimed she had photos
Looking for 100 1 1 1 in her profile, ‘‘but anything that I’m tagged [sic] I make sure it’s
Political views 96 0.92 0.920128 0.92 not [compromising]. I don’t want to be associated with the alco-
Religious views 96 0.92 0.92 0.92 holic who always has a drink in pictures.’’ There was also some
College/university 100 1 1 1
understanding of an etiquette related to tagging practices. Some
First concentration 96 0.92 0.92 0.92
Second 100 1 1 1 pointed out that they had agreed with their friends not to tag each
concentration other.
Third concentration 100 1 1 1 There seemed to be a clash between the concept of privacy and
Degree 96 0.92 0.92 0.92 the definition of friendship on Facebook. For instance, a participant
said she had her settings tuned so that only ‘‘friends’’ could see her,
but when asked about the number of friends she has, she replied
The ‘‘status update,’’ ‘‘favorite quotes,’’ ‘‘about me’’ and Wall fields around 500. Another participant admitted he had not changed
were analyzed to determine the presence of the three topics with his privacy settings and had around 300 friends. Most of them
highest intimacy scores in the survey (feelings and attitudes to- had network friends that stood in the hundreds, with the number
ward death, sexual behaviors, and emotional aspects of self). The ranging from 72 to over 500. The notion of friends in Facebook has
visible (public) postings on friends’ walls were also captured. Cod- been discussed by boyd (2006) and Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe
ers identified and reported the number of discrete disclosures (2007). The dichotomous friend/not friend selection the site affor-
made by participants in each of the mentioned fields. ded at the time these data were collected represented a hindrance
To determine inter-coder reliability for changes over time, to the expression of the nuances of real life networks. In other
agreements and disagreements were registered for all 13 fields in words, on some occasions, users’ limited understanding of or lack
each of the eight captures of 25 Facebook profiles. The overall in- of time or disposition result in the release of information to audi-
ter-coder reliability coefficient for this part of the analysis was ences for which the message was not intended.
98% (Table 3). In general, the group revealed a lack of concern that perhaps
Inter-coder percent agreement for intimacy topic content was legitimizes the privacy worries other researchers and commenta-
calculated by registering decisions made for each of the four fields tors have expressed about adolescent users of Facebook and other
in the eight captures of each of 25 profiles. The overall inter-coder social networks. Some said, ‘‘My Facebook represents me when I’m
reliability for intimacy content was 84%, which is in the acceptable being extremely social,’’ and ‘‘I don’t know how to separate my dig-
range (Table 4). ital life from my real life.’’ Others complain that some photos were
The data obtained through the analysis of the content of the ‘‘outlandish...I hope I could meet someone in person before they
profiles provided a first-hand view of the actual expression of inti- see this.’’
macy on Facebook. This information, together with the data ob- Even though some were concerned about employers getting
tained through the surveys on identity status, was examined to ‘‘the wrong picture,’’ the majority seemed to have a nonchalant
understand the interaction between these factors. attitude toward these postings. One said that ‘‘unless you are being
hired by the CIA or the NSA, you should not have to worry.’’ For
them, Facebook is a ‘‘creative environment,’’ a place where they
4. Results can express themselves, a place where others (including adults
and employers) should not be allowed or, if they were, they should
4.1. Phase 1: Focus group results not expect to impose real life or adults’ social expectations over
Facebook expressions. One participant opposed the notion that
Our discussions with focus group participants indicate that all profile pictures could harm job search: ‘‘It doesn’t seem as if
of them have made communications through computers part of they’re looking at that kind of stuff (profiles photos) and saying,
their daily routines. Facebook was one of the first channels to be ‘Oh, you’re drinking beer [so] I’m not going to hire you.’’
mentioned when talking about communicating with others, espe- These responses as well as others paint a picture about how
cially those within their age range. Overall, participants in the fo- these users of Facebook considered whether and how their profiles
cus group enjoyed the benefits provided by Facebook as the site reflected their identities. Nevertheless, their attitudes about how
facilitated their relationship maintenance tasks. They appreciated well these representations accurately portrayed their identities
Facebook as a medium that made it easier for them to manage varied. One participant noted, ‘‘you can’t put someone down on pa-
the way they presented themselves to their friends. Facebook also per,’’ suggesting he thought that you could not capture one’s es-
allowed them to establish connections and find out more about sence on Facebook, while another participant suggested one
Table 4 ‘‘projects a certain image on Facebook.’’ Participants generally
Intercoder reliability for intimacy topic content. interpreted Facebook profiles to be expressions of themselves
Percent Scott’s Cohen’s Krippendorff’s
and resisted the idea that they could be pigeonholed as a result
agreement Pi Kappa Alpha of what is shown there. Some of their statements in this respect
were: ‘‘It [the profile] doesn’t say who you are’’; ‘‘It’s not accurate
Status 80 0.60 0.610 0.60
update about who you are all the time; it doesn’t show the whole picture’’;
Favorite 88 0.65 0.664 0.66 ‘‘There is no picture that describes you [completely]’’; ‘‘A picture is
quotes worth a thousand words, but a personality is a lot more than that.’’
About me 84 0.60 0.61 0.61
Alternatively, another participant conceded that ‘‘it shapes you in a
Wall 84 0.68 0.68 0.68
way. I’m not going to censor or detag; still it is not representing me
 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366 363

in all my whole.’’ Similarly, another person noted that ‘‘sometimes Table 5

I get the feeling it does influence people’s ideas.’’ Further, one fe- Descriptive statistics for intimacy mentions by interpersonal and ideological identity
status.
male participant said her sorority sisters checked each other’s pro-
files and that this influenced how she behaved and what she N Mean Std. error Std. dev.
posted: ‘‘It keeps me in check, makes me realize it’s not only me Interpersonal identity
that is affected [when unsavory pictures are posted].’’ Diffusion 7 9.14 3.97 10.51
In summary, the comments offered by our focus groups partic- Foreclosure 3 5 3.60 6.24
Moratorium 9 4.66 1.29 3.87
ipants appear to confirm the contention that Facebook could func- Achievement 6 3.83 0.95 2.32
tion as a place for discerning identity issues associated with Entire sample 25 5.76 1.29 6.46
adolescence. It may also help explain college-aged users’ willing- Ideological identity
ness to disclose intimate information as a reflection of their atti- Diffusion 6 9.83 4.26 10.44
tudes about representation, privacy, and the role of friend Foreclosure 2 2 1 1.41
networks. Specifically, many varied perspectives on the role of this Moratorium 13 4.84 1.16 4.20
Achievement 4 4.50 2.87 5.74
social network does or should play in the subjects’ public and pro-
Entire sample 25 5.76 1.29 6.46
fessional lives were expressed suggesting that many adolescents
view Facebook as a safe place to share intimacy while others recog-
nized the risks in doing so.
A contextual review of the Facebook profiles revealed that there
4.2. Phase 2: Results of survey and content analysis are areas beyond the scope of this project that may inform prac-
tices related to disclosure of intimacy. An example of this is the
4.2.1. Survey results application called Bumper Stickers, which is composed of images
The results from the EOMEIS-2 questionnaire on identity status resembling the stickers used on car bumpers. Facebook users give
showed that the majority of the respondents were at moratorium each other bumper stickers to communicate feelings and attitudes;
on both their ideological identity status (49%) and interpersonal the messages are metaphorical. Bumper stickers, as well as other
identity status (46%). The intimacy ranking produced a Cronbach’s interactional strategies using images, offer an enriched perspective
alpha of .75, suggesting that the items tested were internally con- into Facebook interaction practices. This group’s Facebook postings
sistent. The three top-rated items (feelings and attitudes toward demonstrated an underlying humor and lingo that reflected mood,
death, sexual behaviors, and emotional aspects of self) accounted attitudes and feelings toward a friend that could be used to express
for 48% of the highest intimacy rankings and were thus searched proximity with the other or a certain ‘‘fun’’ way of being.
for and coded in the content analysis of the captured Facebook pro- There were also many noticeable practices related to the adap-
files as an indicator of intimacy disclosure behaviors. tation of the English language in Facebook interactions. Some
expressions and lexicon used in these profiles affirm membership
in an artistic group because the profile owners are students in a de-
4.2.2. Content analysis – behavioral practices in relation to identity sign program. This includes the use of such terms as ‘‘izzle’’ added
In total, 116 changes were made to the 13 Facebook profile to a verb or the term ‘‘chillaxing,’’ communicating relaxation by
fields analyzed. Of these changes, only six were in fields reflecting combining the coloquial words ‘‘chill’’ and ‘‘relaxing.’’ Many pur-
ideological status information (political and religious views) and posely employed typos. For example, one wrote, ‘‘so whats are
two were in fields dealing with interpersonal status (relationship you doings on yer birfday?’’ This sentence illustrates the practice
status and looking for). There were 224 intimacy mentions in 25 of phonetically substituting letters for humorous effect. Students
profiles. The majority of the intimate mentions (162 mentions, also used words that have been appropriated by celebrities to indi-
87%) were related to emotional aspects of self. There were 14 that cate their identification with hip-hop culture.
alluded to feelings and attitudes toward death, and 10 mentions of The ‘‘relationship status’’ field often contains real life romantic
sexual behavior. relationships but also information that tends to hint at the ‘‘close-
Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics for intimacy mentions ness’’ between two individuals who have common interests and
by identity status. Due to the non-normality of the distribution wished to announce their alliance. Through this field, users even
of Facebook intimacy mentions, a Mann–Whitney test was used demonstrated levels of commitment and relationships outside
to test this factor by moratorium and achievement status in both the social norm. For example, a girl could be married to a girlfriend
interpersonal (n = 15) and ideological (n = 17) identity. No statisti- although they are not in a romantic or physical relationship, or a
cally significant differences were found between groups in either girl could marry her boyfriend’s brother to indicate a certain tem-
the ideological (p = .79, @ = .05) or interpersonal (p = .86, @ = .05) porary alliance. There were also a number of references that may
dimension. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that diffusion partici- illustrate the transgression of accepted social conduct, including
pants made almost twice as many intimacy disclosures compared the use of sexual innuendoes, health problems, excessive alcohol
to any of the groups in other statuses. We discuss these findings consumption, name-calling, and even racial slurs.
further in the next section. Facebook users updated information about their whereabouts
often, many doing so a few times during the day. It is clear that
4.2.3. Content analysis – emerging themes young people connect with offline acquaintances online. Facebook
To dig into the meaning associated with postings and changes seems to be a medium for social assessment and, with the depth
in Facebook profiles, we examined the content of these 25 subjects and breadth of information the profile fields offer, these adoles-
over this 4 week time period. To be included in this analysis sub- cents appeared to feel safe enough to add someone they just met
jects needed to agree to become friends with one of the researchers as a friend. The artificial process for the construction of ‘‘friend-
and sign and deliver a consent document to the researchers. In this ship’’ on Facebook, already problematized by boyd (2007), is an
section we report on our observations related to both intimacy and awkward transformation from the traditional (real life) concept
disclosure as well as for other ‘‘types’’ of information. In the Dis- of friendship. Due to the constraints of the interface at the time
cussion section that follows, we examine the implications of these of fieldwork, whatever messages were meant for those in high
observations in the context of these users and for ongoing theory intimacy networks could often be relayed to low and medium inti-
and research. macy networks as well.
364 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
This Facebook community had ongoing conversations about
common topics and asserted their belonging to a certain real life
community. There were 21 references to the admission process
to their academic programs of interest: ‘‘congrats!!!! i made it
too!!!!’’ Some participants bragged about having been admitted
to higher ranking programs. In this respect, users employed the site
to announce the members’ rank in their academic program.
In Facebook, one can create reminders of events such as birth-
days. By using specific applications or by merely reviewing profiles
the user can keep track of important celebrations. An extensive list
of postings congratulating participants on their birthdays is an
indication that the profile owner has achieved Facebook popular-
ity. Ten of these postings were noted during fieldwork. There were
numerous comments about real life events and up-to-the-minute
news, such as flooding in some locales near informants’ homes.
Thus, Facebook postings help orient users to places like their
hometowns.
In summary, there are certain characteristics associated with
the culture of the Facebook site that seem to foster disclosure. First,
college students feel a sense of ownership of the site, which has
been designed to enhance academic networking. Perhaps because
of this, they feel free to express themselves on Facebook (i.e., ‘‘this
is our space. . . we should not be bothered by ‘grown-ups’ here’’).
Second, adolescents are fast expanding their networks, even
‘‘friending’’ people they have met in real life just one time. The net-
work then increases the reach of the information they publish. Be-
cause the center of the network is the owner and all links are
directly tied to him/her, any information published reaches all
the links unless the owner modifies the privacy settings of his/
her profile (at the time this study was being conducted, the privacy
regulation features in Facebook were less well developed and the
amount of control offered to users was limited). Moreover, consis-
tent with Gross and Acquisti’s (2005) findings, the participants
showed they had either no knowledge of or interest in adjusting
their privacy settings. As a result, the humor and innuendo, the up-
dates about relationships and their whereabouts, the playful inti-
macy (Erikson, 1968, p. 135) intended for their close peers, were
shared not only with close friends but also with ‘‘friends’’ who
the user recently met or with whom they have very limited ties.
5. Discussion
This study set out to investigate the relationship between the
disclosure of intimate information by late adolescents through
Facebook and the developmental stage they are in per Erikson’s
psychosocial development theory (1959). The results show that
there were intimate disclosures found on participants’ profiles,
which, combined with the finding of no significant difference
across status categories, suggests that there is a culture of disclo-
sure on Facebook that drives interaction independently of the psy-
chosocial status of the individual. It is also possible that the mere
construction of the concept of intimacy has changed in today’s
youth and the depth and value of the information provided online
constitutes the norm for this generation. Nevertheless, the inti-
macy disclosure late adolescents engage in, coupled with the ease
of access to the information they provide online, increases the like-
lihood of a generational clash between the net generation’s take on
what is acceptable and that of older and, perhaps, more rigid social
values. Erikson’s proposition about the moratorium status of ado-
lescence as a time for ‘‘pseudo-intimacy’’ is confirmed in this study
given that the majority of our sample consisted of college students
at moratorium, both defined in terms of the ideological and inter-
personal dimensions. Facebook has historically attracted adoles-
cents perhaps because of its origins as an exclusive college
campus directory; however, these findings suggest that Facebook
has become a venue for identity experimentation, attracting ado-
lescents in moratorium who may perceive that the site is a safe
space for interactions associated with the negotiation of identity.
The prevalence of moratorium individuals among Facebook
users in this study could also be related to the lengthening of the
moratorium period among adolescents in our society. In this re-
spect, this study suggests that longer schooling and the multiple
possibilities for defining adult commitments offered by online
media, among other factors, could be contributing to a prolonged
stage of adolescence. That is, the crisis of adolescence may have
come to include ages that had historically been considered part
of the commitment associated with adulthood. As this study ad-
dresses questions related to Facebook use by late adolescents
and their intimacy disclosure online, it suggests re-consideration
of the intimacy construct in the era of computer-mediated commu-
nication. Society’s continued exposure to mass media messages for
the past century may have displaced people’s understanding of
intimacy, allowing for looser boundaries. Furthermore, although
presence was not analyzed in this study, its use could have helped
assess mediated communication behaviors by accounting for a fac-
tor that could have possibly influenced such behavior. Specifically,
in his discussion of social interaction and the construction of the
self, Goffman (1959) equated real life social interaction to a theatri-
cal performance. The concept of ‘‘presence’’ aids in explaining the
kind of performance adolescents engage in through Facebook,
which may be likened to the types of ‘‘performances’’ seen in 3-D
social networks like Second Life (see Townsend & Mennecke,
2013).
The qualitative findings of this study provide valuable insights
into the practices and emerging norms in young people’s Facebook
culture. They could serve as a frame of reference for further inves-
tigation of the evolving dynamics of Facebook interactions among
young people. Both the focus group results and the content analy-
sis show that late adolescents felt confident about the safety of the
information they published on Facebook. They often reported that
they rejected the notion that the information they published on the
site had the potential to be taken out of context and might affect
their future prospects. They adapted to Facebook’s limitations as
they existed at the time of the research (i.e., the friend-not friend
dichotomy) and had taken advantage of the site’s ability to facili-
tate interpersonal connections. Put another way, they perceived
that the threats to their privacy were outweighed by the satisfac-
tion they obtained from the communication and relational func-
tionality offered by the site.
Independent of a critique of Facebook’s construction of friend-
ship and the possibility of a shift in the understanding of intimacy,
Facebook remains an important addition to this generation’s daily
lives. Why is Facebook important to adolescents today? According
to this study’s respondents, it is because Facebook facilitates rela-
tionship maintenance. In the era of digital technology, young peo-
ple have devised a way of communicating what they want to their
peers in a more manageable way. They make public announce-
ments and through the medium, buffer their involvement in
uncomfortable situations. In any case, they employ what they have
been provided with to achieve their immediate goals, relational
and otherwise.
Many fields of study have demonstrated an interest in discern-
ing the future of online social networks. Marketers and advertisers
have identified their potential for revenue, computer scientists are
intrigued by the challenge they pose in programming, sociologists
see an incomparable source of data, and gender and cultural stud-
ies’ scholars are mesmerized at the revolutionary constructions of
virtual space. The various perspectives that can be applied in the
analysis of the future of virtual worlds illustrate the immense
scope of the effects of this technology in society (Mennecke
et al., 2008). The findings of our research suggests a cultivation
 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
analysis to determine if a ‘‘stable base of social conventions’’ arises
in these as well as other emerging social network applications.
Granovetter (1973) argues that social networks are formed by
ties that can be strong or weak. He relates the strength of a tie to
a variety of factors, including ‘‘amount of time, the emotional
intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding), and the reciprocal ser-
vices which characterize the tie’’ (p. 1361). The strength of weak
ties, in this case, is derived from the social network’s capacity to
act as a bridge that is ‘‘indispensable to individuals’ opportunities
and to their integration into communities’’ (p. 1378). The way in
which the participants interact and express themselves through
Facebook seems to corroborate this tenet. This is seen in the num-
ber of intimate expressions participants make through their pro-
files and, also, in their willingness to cope with the limitations of
a system that does not reflect the way they deal with real life social
networks.
Facebook users take an active role in adapting to the strengths
and limitations of a social network. This implies that future social
networks could better serve their clients by carefully assessing
their needs. Ethnographic studies of stakeholders should be com-
mon practice in the design of technologies that are likely to affect
the way people interact. Cyberanthropologist Hakken (1993) has
pointed to the need to make design a participatory process (p.
117). Social network designers should be listening to the advice
of users as they become more informed about the ways in which
technology can serve their social and relational needs as they ex-
plore their identities online. Thus, an important role for social net-
work designers is to consider the user in context and apply the
insights from a more holistic approach to understanding users in
the context of use.
While this study has focused on late adolescent Facebook users
in the context of use in a collegiate setting, these results have
important organizational and societal implications. For example,
the net generation as represented by the sample we examined in
this study is from the next generation of organizational profession-
als. As a result, their appropriation of technology and their atti-
tudes towards intimacy and disclosure will influence how they
develop and use similar technologies in organizations. As social
technologies continue to proliferate in organizational settings
and are used for a variety of important organizational tasks, under-
standing how this population of users views privacy, intimacy, and
disclosure will be important in helping developers of organiza-
tional social networks in building and securing these systems as
well as training users. Furthermore, this study and our model are
both useful in helping our understanding of how users perceive
their intended as well as unintended audiences and how organiza-
tional communiqués may be inappropriately generated and dis-
persed. Recent public scandals where messages or images were
disseminated beyond the intended recipients illustrate the risks
run by organizations as they deploy social technologies. By apply-
ing both our methodological approach as well as the results from
our examination of late adolescent users to other contexts we hope
this study would prove useful in the adoption and deployment of
social network technologies.
The small sample sizes in each of the three methods applied in
this study limit the generalizability of the results. Only 25 respon-
dents were willing to permit monitoring online. Each of the meth-
ods employed a convenience sample that may not be
representative of the population of students in the design college,
let alone other groups. Also, Facebook users in this study may al-
ready be conditioned to accept the disruption of privacy as an inev-
itable product of their participation on a SNS.
Because the students were aware that they are being observed
by researchers, posting behaviors may have been influenced by the
fact that they were being watched (i.e., the Hawthorne effect) or
those participants who accepted that invitation to have their pro-
365
files monitored may have been more predisposed to disclose inti-
mate information. Nevertheless, the content of the discussions
were often open and disclosive, suggesting that the ‘‘presence’’ of
a researcher was not influencing behaviors. Additionally, the tim-
ing of data collection is an important factor when considering
these observations and results. Facebook is a work in progress
and evolved within the timeframe during which this study data
were collected (i.e., 2008) in ways that could have affected data
collection (e.g., the privacy settings have been improved and made
more accessible subsequent to our interviews and observations).
Also, the time of the year (summer break) chosen for fieldwork
and data collection for the content analysis may have affected
interaction because participants were away from their college
peers and involved in activities that were different from what they
do the rest of the year. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the under-
lying phenomenon influencing behaviors associated with disclo-
sure and intimacy would have been significantly affected by
either changes in interface design or timing during the year. In fact,
it is likely that for close friends Facebook would have been used
more extensively during the summer when proximity precluded
other forms of communication. Finally, it is also possible that the
social construction of some of the concepts examined in our study
(e.g., intimacy) is changing as technology and norms evolve. For
example, do youth who are bombarded by media and express
themselves routinely through media have a different set of expec-
tations about the impacts of disclosive behaviors? This question is
beyond the scope of this study but suggests an important line of re-
search to examine attitudes towards intimacy, disclosiveness, and
real-world impacts of these behaviors.
The limitations inherent to the observation and unobtrusive
data gathering in online communities are parallel to those of eth-
nographic work in real life settings. These have been extensively
discussed in the literature on anthropology by prominent figures
of this field such as Clifford Geertz and Margaret Mead. The meth-
odological limitations are linked to the specific pursuit of the dis-
cipline itself, and the argument has been made that human
behavior is contextual and responds to an infinite number of fac-
tors that cannot ever be simulated or controlled. The specifics of
online ethnographic work were originally documented by Escobar
(1994) and, later, by Budka and Kremser (2004) in their work on
the anthropology of cyberculture. Such limitations have also been
discussed and dealt with on most cyberanthropological work such
as Nakamura’s (2002) study on race and gender online and Turkle’s
(1999) research on children and computers. In an attempt to deal
with these limitations, this study has employed a mixed-method
approach to provide a richer picture of attitudes and behaviors
undertaken by users of Facebook.
6. Conclusions
We undertook this research to examine the relationship be-
tween the developmental stage of Facebook users and their disclo-
sure of intimate information through Facebook. Using Erikson’s
psychosocial development theory (1959) and Marcia’s (1966) four
statuses of identity characteristics, we examined the online behav-
ior of a sample of adolescent Facebook users. The results demon-
strate that users frequently use the environment to communicate
routine as well as intimate information to peers. The number of
intimate disclosures observed along with the finding of no signifi-
cant difference across status categories, indicates that Facebook is
used as a forum for disclosure that is independent of the psychoso-
cial status of the individual. Results from our discussions with
youth in this age range during focus groups suggest that
perceptions of privacy and the broader ramifications of disclosure
are not considered significant by these users. This has important
366 Z. Jordán-Conde et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014) 356–366
implications for parents, counselors, and educators in that adoles-
cents in this age range who, presumably, are treated as adults, fail
to have a mature understanding of the potential harm that disclo-
sure could have on their wellbeing.
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