A hallmark of this early research is the
presumption that when online and offline social networks overlapped, the directionality
was online to offline—online connections resulted in face-to-face meetings. For
instance, Parks and Floyd (1996) report that one-third of their respondents later met
their online correspondents face-to-face. As they write, ‘‘These findings imply that
relationships that begin on line rarely stay there’’ (n.p.).