‘Putting Your Self Online’

Cyberspace has become a common place where youth can make friends who may or may not meet in real life situation. This social technology redefines the nature of bonding and relationships that youth develop in the process of social interaction via computer-mediated communication channels. The purpose of this research was to empirically explore the nature of friendship formation in the cyberspace among Malaysian youth. The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents (85.6%) formed online friendship using multiple communication channels, such as Social Networking sites and Instant Messengers in addition to e-mail. Major findings of this research indicated that the combined use of communication channels (i.e., Instant Messengers, e-mail, and Social Networking Sites), together with pre-existing face-to-face friendship and loneliness, mediated through online self-disclosure and frequency of online interaction contributed to the formation of cyberfriendship. In addition, loneliness appeared to be a strong predictor of cyberfriendship formation. The present research contributes to the formulation of a new perspective in understanding the cyberfriendship phenomenon.