Study: Internet expands social contacts

Alone on the Internet? Hardly. The cyberworld expands people’s social networks and even encourages people to talk by phone or meet others in person, a new study finds.

People who e-mail friends and relatives are 25% more likely to contact them by landline phones.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project also finds that U.S. Internet users are more apt to get help on health care, financial and other decisions because they have a larger set of people to which to turn.

Further rebuking early studies suggesting that the Internet promotes isolation, Pew found that it "was actually helping people maintain their communities," said Barry Wellman, a University of Toronto sociology professor and co-author of the Pew report.

By Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-25-social-web-study_x.htm