Social connectedness: concept and measurement

Social connectedness, i.e. the experience of belonging and relatedness between people, is a central concept in understanding and evaluating communication media, in particular awareness systems. A generic measure based on this construct an support the design of such systems. The current paper describes the construction of two questionnaires for the measurement of this concept. These questionnaires were subsequently applied in survey studies in order to establish the structure of the concept and to identify the items that are suited for the measurement of its dimensions. One questionnaire was subjected to an initial validation. We conclude with some preliminary suggestions regarding (design) approaches to foster social connectedness.