'When Strangers Meet…'An Exploration of the Experience of Intimacy in WhatsAppand Face-To-Face Interactions

Abstract

The current study examined the impact of communication medium on relational intimacy
between 120 previously unacquainted male and female participants, using an experimental design.
Sixty pairs of male-female participants were grouped under either of the two conditions: WhatsApp
mediated communication or Face-to-Face (FTF) communication.t test with independent means
revealed no significant difference in intimacy between the two conditions (t = 1.228, p=.224, Cohen’s
d=0.314). Correlational analysis revealed a significant relationship between nonverbal cues and
intimacy in the FTF condition (r = .70, p=.000) but not between textual cues and intimacy in the
WhatsApp condition (r = .24, p=.207). Further, qualitative analysis revealed four features along
which pairs with high and low intimacy differed. The outcomes of the study would enable in
exploiting the features of WhatsApp effectively to enhance interpersonal communication, regardless
of temporal or spatial barrier.