The social networking sites have a primary purpose of promoting communication and interactions amongst users. Such sites like Facebook, Orkut, and Twitter have become popular and a vital part of social life in India, especially among teenagers. However, available literature indicates lack of in-depth study to evaluate how and why Indian teenagers engage with social networking sites. This study hopes to fill this gap as it uses Focus Group Discussion to explore the experiences of Indian teenagers with social networking sites. Information from the groups was analyzed in terms of their use of social networking sites, online versus offline friendships, and extending friendships beyond cyberspace. Our findings indicate that both boys and girls use other forms of communication channels to strengthen existing friendships more with the same gender than with the opposite. However, the boys enjoy more freedom when compared with the girls and they admitted talking to online friends and meeting them outside cyberspace without any hesitation. The girls, on their part, were hesitant to extend online friendships beyond virtual space because of security issues and resistance from family members.
Keywords: Social Networking Sites (SNSs), Teenagers, Online relationship, Offline relationship, India