In this work, we challenge the assumption that weak ties play uniquely important social support roles on social network sites, particularly regarding informational support. To overcome methodological limitations of earlier research, we present a mixed-methods study. Forty-one participants were interviewed and asked to identify five weak, medium, and strong ties each and to report on perceived and actually received social support (emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal) associated with each. Complicating traditional understandings of “the strength of weak ties,” the qualitative analyses of actual support events show that both emotional and informational support is provided by strong ties. In an additional quantitative between-subjects study design, 352 participants were asked about various aspects of a weak, medium, or strong tie. These results indicate that participants valued their strong ties more regarding every form of support. Although there were only weak correlations between perceived and recalled actually received support, people also report actual support events with strong ties to be more helpful—overall suggesting the strength of strong ties.

在这项工作中，我们挑战了弱关系在社交网站上扮演独特重要的社会支持角色的假设，特别是在信息支持方面。为了克服早期研究的方法学局限性，我们提出了一项混合方法研究。41 名参与者接受了采访，并要求他们分别确定五个弱、中等和强关系，并报告与每个相关的感知和实际获得的社会支持（情感、信息、工具和评估）。与“弱关系的强度”的传统理解复杂化，对实际支持事件的定性分析表明，情感和信息支持都是由强关系提供的。在另一个定量的受试者间研究设计中，352 名参与者被问及弱、中或强关系的各个方面。这些结果表明，参与者更看重他们在每种形式的支持方面的牢固联系。尽管感知到的和回忆的实际得到的支持之间只有微弱的相关性，但人们也报告说，具有强关系的实际支持事件更有帮助——总体上表明强关系的强度。