As previously discussed, current research is beginning to show support for the rich
get richer hypothesis. However, because online social networking is such a young field
further research is still needed in order to fully confirm this hypothesis. If young people
who already have solid social communities and skills are more likely to employ online
social networking, it raises the question, can traditional adolescent relationship patterns be
applied to online social networking? This question and others will be addressed in the
following section.