Research on social media use and its impact on social relationships has produced mixed findings. Online groups that target people with a shared identity or experience may be one aspect of social media use that is more likely to generate positive outcomes, yet their effects are understudied. People with minority identities may be particularly likely to benefit from online communities due to greater barriers accessing in person support. The extent to which people feel similar to online group members, the importance of the focal identity or experience, and the ways in which they participate may help explain who gets the most out of online groups. Using an online survey, the current study used path analysis to test these potential predictors of support availability and sense of belonging within two Facebook groups for multiracial people (N = 461). Results indicated that multiracial people who perceived others in the group as more similar to themselves experienced greater belonging and perceived the group as better able to provide support. Users who viewed their multiracial identity as highly important also experienced better social support outcomes. Finally, active participation and self-disclosure were both associated with better support outcomes. This study indicates the potential for online groups to facilitate positive outcomes through connections to similar others. Findings contribute to the literature on online group use by identifying specific contexts, types of engagement, and user characteristics that can promote positive outcomes during social media and online group use.

关于社交媒体的使用及其对社会关系的影响的研究产生了不同的结果。以具有共同身份或经历的人为目标的在线群体可能是社交媒体使用的一个方面，更有可能产生积极的结果，但其影响尚未得到充分研究。由于获得面对面支持的障碍更大，具有少数民族身份的人可能特别有可能从在线社区中受益。人们对在线群组成员的感觉相似程度、焦点身份或体验的重要性以及他们参与的方式可能有助于解释谁从在线群组中获得最大收益。通过一项在线调查，当前的研究使用路径分析来测试这些潜在的支持可用性和归属感在两个 Facebook 群组中的多种族人群预测因素（N  = 461）。结果表明，认为群体中的其他人与自己更相似的多种族人体验到更大的归属感，并认为该群体能够更好地提供支持。认为自己的多种族身份非常重要的用户也体验到更好的社会支持结果。最后，积极参与和自我表露都与更好的支持结果相关。这项研究表明在线团体有可能通过与类似的其他人的联系来促进积极的结果。研究结果通过确定特定的环境、参与类型和用户特征来促进关于在线群体使用的文献，这些特征可以在社交媒体和在线群体使用期间促进积极的结果。