The advent of the Internet affects friendship networks. There are three different hypotheses regarding this. The displacement hypothesis argues that new friends who meet online will replace existing friends in the real world. The augmentation hypothesis contends that new friends who meet online will expand the size of their friendship networks. The stimulation hypothesis proposes that the Internet enhances the strength of existing friends and enlarges strong-tie networks. Using the nationally representative sample in the 2012 Taiwan Communication Survey, this study investigates whether different hypotheses apply to different Internet applications. The results show that the Internet actually increases, not decreases, social interactions with existing friends, but these social interactions neither create strong ties for new friends who meet online nor translate existing weak ties into strong ties, especially for social media. It is concluded that friendship networks influence the social use of the Internet
