Fiske's theory is based on the conclusion that all human relationships are built from four types of interactions: communal sharing, equality matching, authority ranking, and market pricing. In Fiske's theory, these four building blocks (which he calls "relationship models") result in the entire range of the very complex and diverse social life of humans.

“Are you my friend? Yes or no?” This question, while fundamentally odd, is a key component of social network sites. [...]I will argue that the established Friending norms evolved out of a need to resolve the social tensions that emerged due to technological limitations. At the same time, I will argue that Friending supports pre-existing social norms yet because the architecture of social network sites is fundamentally different than the architecture of unmediated social spaces, these sites introduce an environment that is quite unlike that with which we are accustomed.