News From the Field
Study: Race Plays a Minor Role in Forging Facebook Friendships

October 29, 2010

Race may not be as important as previously thought in determining who befriends whom, suggests a new study of American college students' habits on Facebook. The strongest attraction, the researchers found, turned out to be old-fashioned social pressure: For the average student, the tendency to reciprocate a friendly overture is seven times stronger than the attraction of a shared racial background. Full Story

Source
Harvard University

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