Relational transgressions on social networking sites: Individual, interpersonal, and contextual explanations for dyadic strain and communication rules change

Social networking sites have demonstrated considerable utility to Internet users who wish to form or maintain interpersonal relationships online, but the qualities of these Internet platforms can also give rise to negative interactions between contacts. Perceptible relational problems, such as strain and changes to relational rules, originate from three commonly experienced transgressions on social networking sites: having a friend request declined or ignored, having a public message or identification tag deleted, and issues related to Top Friends applications. This investigation examines factors that contribute to the experience of relational problems following the three most common relational transgressions over social networking sites. The findings reveal that self-esteem, relational satisfaction, and publicness of the event, moderated by network esteem, affect the magnitude of the relational problems.