Measurements
| Items | Scale | |
|---|---|---|
| Perceived coherence (Cronbach’s α = 0.86/0.91)a | Not coherent – coherent | 7-point semantic differential scale |
| Not consistent – consistent | ||
| Not continuously – continuously | ||
| Perceived intimacy (Cronbach’s α = 0.57/0.68)a | Non intimate – intimate | 7-point semantic differential scale |
| Impersonal – personal | ||
| Superficial – in depthb | ||
| Perceived appropriateness (Cronbach’s α = 0.80/0.78)a | Appropriate – inappropriate | 7-point semantic differential scale |
| Suitable to the situation – unsuitable | ||
| Out of place for this context – normal to share in this context | ||
| Improper – proper | ||
| Perceived entertainment value | Boring – entertaining | 7-point semantic differential scale |
| Familiarity | How familiar do you feel to the following profile owners? | 1-7 continuous scale; do not remember |
| Closeness | Compare to other users on Social Net, how close do you feel to the following profile owners? | 1-7 continuous scale; no impression |
| Propinquity (Cronbach’s α = 0.95/0.93)a | Distant – nearby | 7-point semantic differential scale |
| Close – far | ||
| Together – separate | ||
| Proximal – remote | ||
| Disconnected – connected | ||
| Social attraction (Cronbach’s α = 0.86/0.85)a | I think XX could be a friend of minec | 7-point Likert scale |
| It would be difficult to meet and talk with XXc | ||
| XX just wouldn’t fit into my circle of friendsc | ||
| We could never establish a personal friendship with each other. | ||
| I would like to have a friendly chat with XXc |
Note:
a
“The value before “/” was the Cronbach’s α for Study 1, and the value after “/” was for Study 2.
b
This item was dropped in both studies because it was not highly correlated with the other two items.
c
“XX” was replaced by the name of the profile owner accordingly in each item.