We hypothesized that people who can better disclose their "true" or inner self to others on the Internet than in face-to-face settings will be more likely to form close relationships on-line and will tend to bring those virtual relationships into their "real" lives. Study 1, a survey of randomly selected Internet newsgroup posters, showed that those who better express their true self over the Internet were more likely than others to have formed close on-line relationships and moved these friendships to a face-to-face basis. Study 2 revealed that the majority of these close Internet relationships were still intact 2 years later. Finally, a laboratory experiment found that undergraduates liked each other more following an Internet compared to a face-to-face initial meeting.

Just as with most other communication breakthroughs before it, the initial media and popular reaction to the Internet has been largely negative, if not apocalyptic. For example, it has been described as “awash in pornography”, and more recently as making people “sad and lonely.” Yet, counter to the initial and widely publi cized claim that Internet use causes depression and social isolation, the body of ev idence (even in the initial study on which the claim was based) is mainly to the con trary. More than this, however, it is argued that like the telephone and television before it, the Internet by itself is not a main effect cause of anything, and that psy chology must move beyond this notion to an informed analysis of how social iden tity, social interaction, and relationship formation may be different on the Internet than in real life. Four major differences and their implications for self and identity, social interaction, and relationships are identified: one's greater anonymity, the greatly reduced importance of physical appearance and physical distance as “gating features” to relationship development, and one's greater control over the time and pace of interactions. Existing research is reviewed along these lines and some promising directions for future research are described.

Those who feel better able to express their “true selves” in Internet rather than face‐to‐face interaction settings are more likely to form close relationships with people met on the Internet (McKenna, Green, & Gleason, this issue). Building on these correlational findings from survey data, we conducted three laboratory experiments to directly test the hypothesized causal role of differential self‐expression in Internet relationship formation. Experiments 1 and 2, using a reaction time task, found that for university undergraduates, the true‐self concept is more accessible in memory during Internet interactions, and the actual self more accessible during face‐to‐face interactions. Experiment 3 confirmed that people randomly assigned to interact over the Internet (vs. face to face) were better able to express their true‐self qualities to their partners.

The Internet is the latest in a series of technological breakthroughs in interpersonal communication, following the telegraph, telephone, radio, and television. It combines innovative features of its predecessors, such as bridging great distances and reaching a mass audience. However, the Internet has novel features as well, most critically the relative anonymity afforded to users and the provision of group venues in which to meet others with similar interests and values. We place the Internet in its historical context, and then examine the effects of Internet use on the user's psychological well-being, the formation and maintenance of personal relationships, group memberships and social identity, the workplace, and community involvement. The evidence suggests that while these effects are largely dependent on the particular goals that users bring to the interaction-such as self-expression, affiliation, or competition-they also interact in important ways with the unique qualities of the Internet communication situation.

Internet newsgroups allow individuals to interact with others in a relatively anonymous fashion and thereby provide individuals with concealable stigmatized identities a place to belong not otherwise available. Thus, membership in these groups should become an important part of identity. Study 1 found that members of newsgroups dealing with marginalized-concealable identities modified their newsgroup behavior on the basis of reactions of other members, unlike members of marginalizedconspicuous or mainstream newsgroups. This increase in identity importance from newsgroup participation was shown in both Study 2 (marginalized sexual identities) and Study 3 (marginalized ideological identities) to lead to greater self-acceptance, as well as coming out about the secret identity to family and friends. Results supported the view that Internet groups obey general principles of social group functioning and have real-life consequences for the individual.I just thought, "Oh God. What if they pick up that I'm gay?" It was that fear and shame. ... I watched the whole Gay Pride march in Washington in 1993, and I wept when I saw that I mean I cried so hard, thinking "I wish I could be there," because I never felt like I belonged anywhere.-Ellen DeGeneres, Time magazine interview A variety of motivations might explain why one identifies with a social group (e.g., Brewer, 1991;Deaux, 1996;Hogg & Abrams, 1993). Among the most prominently discussed motives are to gain self-esteem, to reduce uncertainty about oneself, and to fulfill the basic need to belong. For those with mainstream and culturally valued identities, opportunities for group identification are readily available. Yet for those who possess culturally stigmatized identities, especially identities that are concealable from others (Frable, 1993;E. E. Jones et al., 1984), this is not the case. Such stigmatized individuals are likely to quite