When Strangers Meet’…an Exploration of the Experience of Intimacy in WhatsApp and Face-To-Face Interactions

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 inintimacy 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 thefeatures of WhatsApp effectively to enhance interpersonal communication,regardless of temporal orspatial barrier