Alone in the Crowd: An Investigation of the Factors Related to the Feeling of Loneliness in Social Network Sites
Nouf Alhuzami

Abstract
Social network sites (SNS)can be a powerful tool that connect people. However, online relationships could be only numbers with low quality. Comparison with celebrities, concerns about followers, uncivil comments and other factors might make people feel lonely inside these platforms. This study attempts to examine the relationships between the feeling of loneliness in SNS (LSNS) and three groups of factors: user-related (age, gender, educational level); use-related factors (the platform used, caring about followers, comparison with celebrities) and SNS-environment factors (trending Hashtags, uncivil comments). To achieve this purpose, a questionnaire was designed based on the Three-Item Loneliness Scale of Hughes, Waite, Hawkley, & Cacioppo (2004). The respondents (N=208) were Saudi inhabitants. The results show a significant positive correlation between LSNS and loneliness in real life, a negative relation with age, a positive correlation with Hashtags and celebrities’ comparison. No significant correlation was detected with none of: gender, education, platform used.

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