The ‘socialness’ Of Online Social Media: Conversations With Selected Midlands State University Students.

Abstact INTRODUCTION This study examines the socialness of online social media, specifically WhatsApp and Facebook. Literature (Papacharissi 2010, Bauman 2013), shows that online social media helps in creating communities, bonds, socializing and gatherings just like organic communities. Facebook users can claim to have hundreds of friends in their network, yet sometimes find it difficult to name half a dozen people that they have actually met in their local neighborhood. While social networks have helped people to meet like-minded contacts online, they have had a more limited role in developin…