Researchers have proposed two opposing hypothesis in answer to the question;
why are young people so apt to utilize social networking sites (Sheldon, 2008)? The first of
these is the rich get richer theory. More extraverted teens that already have well‐
established peer groups report using the communication websites as additional peer
interaction to reinforce already formed friendships and keep in touch with long‐distance
friends. On the other hand, less socially adept youth explain their online social networking
as a place to anonymously self‐disclose and make friends when they might otherwise be
too uncomfortable to do so. This group is using online social networking to compensate
socially, thus displaying the second hypothesis, the social compensation hypothesis
(Anderson‐Butcher et al., 2010). There is much debate and contradictory research over
which of these motives takes precedence because past research has shown that less socially
capable teens are more likely to turn to the worldwide web while current research is
showing the opposite.