Social networking websites have become an ingrained part of the college experience, and the millennial generation is likely to keep up its habit of sharing personal information online as young people grow older, according to a new study.In a July study by the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of “technology stakeholders” said they predict members of the millennial generation “will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic and political opportunities.”Millennials, or people born after 1980, will continue their habits of disseminating information about themselves online even as they acquire families and important responsibilities, the study’s experts forecasted.This generation, members of which are often called “digital natives,” integrate their technology use with the desire for sharing personal information that all humans share, said communication studies professor Loretta Pecchioni.”At the heart of every theory of interpersonal communication and relationship development is self disclosure,” Pecchioni said. “The more we learn about other people, that helps us to understand who they are and the better we can predict their behavior and the easier it is to interact with them.”Pecchioni said through sites like Facebook, people can learn things about others that make it easier to quickly develop a relationship.Pavica Sheldon, a research associate for the School of Social Work who received her doctorate in communication studies from the University in May 2010, wrote her dissertation on the development of relationships through social networking sites.”It is interesting that college students are aware of how much information they post online,” Sheldon said in an email. “Most people now have limited Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts.”Sheldon said extroverted people are more likely to disclose things about themselves on the Internet, which she called the “rich-get-richer hypothesis.””The more Facebook friends a person has, the more they self-disclose,” she said.But Sheldon also found most people use Facebook for catching up with acquaintances rather than interacting with close personal friends.”I found that participants actually like, trust and self-disclose more to their face-to-face friends than Facebook friends,” she said.     ”Digital natives in this study reported that their interaction on Facebook is usually reserved for their long-distance friends who moved after high school … while they talk to their best friends and family members primarily in person.”Using the Internet to maintain casual relationships is the way many older people use social networking sites now, and this pattern of use may be what the millennial generation continues to follow as they age, Pecchioni said.”It’s what older people are getting on for. They touch base with people they went to high school with and are reconnecting with people they lost track of,” she said. “When big stuff happens in someone’s life, you can reconnect briefly at least.”Sheldon predicted that as millennials gets older, their online presence will increase and they will use Facebook more often than email or other older forms of computer-mediated communication.”With the iPhones and iPads, we are connected even when we are driving the car,” she said. “So there is no reason not to think that online presence will increase.”
 
 
 
—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]