"Keeping a Safe Confession Distance between Strangers": The Spatial Structure of Social Accessibility in Networked Communities and Risk Avoidance of Stranger Confessions

Tongwen Xu and Yunhong Lyu

Studies in Media and Communication, 2023, vol. 11, issue 6, 23-33

Abstract: This study focuses on the spatial structure of stranger social accessibility in networked communities and risk avoidance when socializing with strangers. Using Confession Wall as an example, this study contends that community social media fosters new connections by compensating for accessibility issues between strangers in local communities through flexible mediation of online and offline social interactions. This connectivity minimizes the costs and risks of emotional interactions between strangers in semi-acquaintance communities. This compensation for social accessibility highlights the value of digital media, especially community social media as a geomedia, in energizing communities and facilitating interactions between strangers. This is crucial in understanding the emotional interactions between strangers and how they are mediated by community social media in settings where acquaintances and complete strangers intermingle.

Date: 2023
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