A Study of Opportunities and Challenges of Mobile Social Networks for Tabriz Families

The development of new modes of communication among Iranian families, this social institution has been influenced by the changing needs of young people and young couples; among the new technologies are the newest innovations in mobile social networks, which also include incidents and damages, as well as offshoots. The present study aims at identifying the opportunities and challenges of mobile social networks for Iranian families. This research was conducted using qualitative research method and via the semi-structured interviewing technique for data collection. The youth aged 20 to 33 years, as users of mobile social networking sites in Tabriz, who had at least two years of experience in these networks, were selected as statistical population. In fact, 20 of these users were selected as participants via the purposive sampling method. Analyzing participants’ interviews resulted in the extraction of 9 types of major issues in the context of the challenges and challenges of mobile virtual networks as follows: "alienation from the insiders (relatives and peers) (reduction of family interactions)", "the intimacy of others (generalization of the private sphere)," the emergence of new communication patterns in families, "the escalation of the value gap", "promotion of pornography", "sexual friendships outside the framework of families", "privacy violations", "erosion of marital reciprocity", and "intensification of consumerism".