(C) "Complement offline communications" and "new communications triggered by social media"

To this point, we have confirmed that many social media users have benefited from interacting with others — such as “networked with people with the same interests or likes” and “reconnected with people I’d lost touch with” — and we have confirmed the degree of community involvement and social media posting. Next, social media users were asked whether these online interactions had deepened bonds with others with respect to “bonds with family and relatives” and eight other categories. $ ^{41} $ The most common answer, given by 69.6 percent of the users, was that social media exchanges had deepened “bonds with distant friends and acquaintances.” This response was followed in order by “bonds with school friends and acquaintances,” “bonds with friends and acquaintances who live nearby,” “bonds with people younger or older than myself,” and “bonds with family and relatives.” In view that engagement over social media deepen bonds with existing friends made in the real world, we can conclude that social media does indeed demonstrate the benefit of “complementing offline communications.”

Given that 64.3 percent of social media users answered that social media engagement had deepened “bonds with people met online,” we can also conclude that social media fosters “new communications.”

Incidentally, looking at the results by social media type finds that blog users were the least likely to say that exchanges had deepened bonds.

We also asked social media users about the number of people they had first met through social media instead of in person. $ ^{42} $ A large majority, 75.1 percent, said they had met at least one person online, and the most common number, given by 31.4 percent, was “1 to 5 people.” Examining the results by social media type did not reveal any significant differences in response rates.

When asked, “have you met in real life anyone you first met through social media?” 47.7 percent said yes. By generation, 53.5 percent of the middle-age segment and 36.8 percent of the senior segment said yes, and by social media type, 51.1 percent of SNS users and 40.2 percent of blog users said yes, indicating that there are differences in terms of age and social media type.

### C. Analysis of the "resolution of personal concerns or problems," and "resolution of social or local community problems" benefits

We analyzed the relationship $ ^{43} $ between the frequency of online-community involvement through social media $ ^{44} $ and the extent personal concerns or problems or social or local community problems have been resolved by using social media. $ ^{45} $ Two correlations, one each for SNS use and Twitter use, were found between the frequency of online-community involvement through social media and the extent personal concerns or problems, etc., have been resolved by using social media $ ^{46} $ (Figure 2-3-2-5).

### D. Social media's possibilities

This section arranges some conclusions about social media's potential, in light of the varied benefits of social media confirmed in the analysis above.

By using social media, social media users deepen bonds in existing personal relationships, communicate with a diverse range of people, and deepen bonds in new personal relationships by, for example, meeting in real life people first met through social media. Even as community and family ties wane, social media has demonstrated that it can complement offline communications and foster communications with new people.

Furthermore, many social media users have been able to resolve personal concerns or problems, which is illustrated by responses such as “resolved schooling, job-hunting, marriage, child-raising, or other personal or family problems,” “resolved health-related concerns or