This is the first collection of readings on computer-mediated communication focusing exclusively on interpersonal interactions. Examining messages exchanged via email, Twitter, Facebook, websites, and blogs, the authors analyze communication issues of ongoing importance in relationships including deception, disclosure, identity, influence, perception, privacy, sexual fidelity, and social support. The book examines subjects that attract intense student interest ¿ including online performance of gender, online dating, and using computer-mediated communication to achieve family/work life balance ¿ and will inspire further research and course development in the area of computer-mediated communication in personal relationships. Because it provides a synthesis of ideas at the nexus of interpersonal communication theory and computer-mediated communication theory, the book can serve as a textbook for advanced undergraduate as well as graduate courses.

Contents: - A Functional Approach to Social Networking Sites - Unpacking the Paradoxes of Privacy in CMC Relationships: The Challenges of Blogging and Relational Communication on the Internet - A New Twist on Love's Labor: Self-Presentation in Online Dating Profiles - Microchannels and CMC: Short Paths to Developing, Maintaining, and Dissolving Relationships - Communication Competence and Apprehension during CMC in Online and Face-to-face Relationships - Relational Maintenance and CMC - Locating Computer-Mediated Social Support Within Online Communication Environments - Personal Relationships and Computer-Mediated Support Groups - Online Self-Disclosure: A Review of Research - Multicommunicating and Episodic Presence: Developing New Constructs for Studying New Phenomena - The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: The Role of ICTs in Work and Family Connections - CMC and the Conceptualization of "Friendship": How Friendships Have Changed with the Advent - of New Methods of Interpersonal Communication - A Cross-Contextual Examination of Technologically Mediated Communication and Social Presence in Long-Distance Relationships - Healthcare Provider-Recipient Interactions: Is "Online" Interaction the Next Best Thing to Being There? - Family Imbalance and Adjustment to Information and Communication Technologies - Online Performances of Gender: Blogs, Gender-Bending, and Cybersex as Relational Exemplars - Digital Deception in Personal Relationships - Speculating about Spying on MySpace and Beyond: Social Network Surveillance and Obsessive Relational Intrusion - Problematic Youth Interactions Online: Solicitation, Harassment, and Cyberbullying.