Social Capital and Online Community

Pete Jones&

Sukhman Perhar

Outline

● Definition of Social Capital● Pre-SNS research and theory● Post-SNS research and theory● Recent developments:

Examples of social media increasing social capital

● Conclusion

Definition of Social Capital

● Wellman et al. (2001)– Network capital

– Participatory capital

– Community Commitment

● Builds on analysis by Putnam on the decline of social capital and civic involvement (1996).

● Two kinds of social interactions: bridging and bonding.

Definition of Social Capital

● Valenzuela et al. (2009)● Social capital: “The resources available to

people through their social interactions.” (p3)

– e.g. social trust, civic engagement, life satisfaction, political participation.

● Uses Scheufele and Shah's framework (2000):

– Intrapersonal

– Interpersonal

– Behavioural

Wellman et al.: pre-SNS analysis of online media and social capital

● Three theories of the internet's effect on social capital:

– Utopian – Internet use increases social capital offline.

– Dystopian – Internet use decreases social capital offline.

– Supplementary – Internet use supplements social capital offline.

Does the internet increase/decrease social capital?

● Utopian● The internet improves

offline communication.

● The internet increases offline interaction.

● “Nonlocal community” can bridge gaps in geography.

● Dystopian● Online interactions

inferior to offline interactions.

● Online activity competes for time with other activities.

● Absorption.

● Alienation, loneliness, depression.

Absorption?

Research and Conclusions● Looked at survey conducted using Nat Geo website visitors

(1998).

● Network capital: Found that internet use neither replaces offline communication nor increases it.

● Participatory capital: Tracks and supplements offline patterns.

● Community commitment: Online community commitment decreases due to exposure to unfavourable behaviour. Offline community commitment no pattern.

● Argues that this tracks a general trend away from strong socially controlling communities towards individualisation, fragmentation.

● Limitations of data prevent strong inferences.

● Overall, they find that internet use is supplementary and doesn't have enough impact to support either utopian or dystopian views.

Valenzuela et al.: post-SNS analysis of social media & social

capital● Authors observe flaws in earlier research

which fails to recognise the dynamic nature of internet use e.g. compared to TV.

● Looks at the effects of Facebook use on social capital through:

– Social trust – Life Satisfaction

– Civic engagement – Political Partication

● As Facebook facilitates both bridging and bonding, it can potentially increase all kinds of social capital.

Research and Findings● Survey of college students from two diverse universities in

Texas.

● When index of intensity of Facebook use was varied from the lowest value to the highest value, they found:

– Life Satisfaction was ceteris paribus 14.5 percentage points higher for high use.

– Social trust was 4.7 points higher.

– Civic engagement increased 16.1 points for Facebook use and 9.5 points for Facebook Groups use.

– Political participation increased ceteris paribus 27.4 points for Facebook Groups use.

– Most variables, including demographic variables were insignificant.

Research and Findings

Valenzuela et al. Conclusions

● “The results show a stronger association of Facebook use with the intrapersonal and behavioral components of social capital than with the interpersonal dimension.”

● This doesn't mean that Facebook makes people more satisfied etc., it could be that it attracts these people.

● What the small increases do mean though is that theories of isolation and alienation are not valid.

● However, even this analysis is limited and somewhat outdated.

YouTubers● The basic form of social capital, as defined

by Valenzuela et al., is “It is the resources available to people through their social interactions”.

● YouTube stars are able to use New Media to garner massive followings on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

● Able to use their fan base to enact change/support a cause/raise money for charity.

Arab Spring● “Utilised social media as an effective means to

spread information and promote insurgent agendas.” (Lindsey, 2013)

– Facebook events, real-time tweets about the events, YouTube videos showing the violence, Reddit feeds dedicated to the events.

● Powerful influencers came out of social media use → Wael Ghonim and the Egyptian Revolution (Oehmke, 2012)

● Social media became such a powerful tool for organising events that many nations shut down the internet.

Fandoms● The creation of Fandoms, especially on Tumblr, is

an example of community-building via social media.

● You can “follow” people with similar interests to you.

– e.g. comic book art, Photoshop, TV shows.

● Television producers/writers know the power behind fandoms and carefully consider what they want when crafting episodes.

● Fandoms are seen as powerful and very connected communities.

Conclusions● Existing research doesn't support the idea that social

media use significantly affects social capital.

● Positions which maintain a view of distinct online/offline spheres fail to capture reality.

● Social media can certainly facilitate increased social capital (as shown in examples) despite what pessimists argue.

● Therefore we should look to promote these forms of use.

● This suggests a case for a positive attitude towards the relationship between social media and social capital.

References‘23 People Who Didn’t Know the Titanic was Real’, Twisted Sifter, available at http://twistedsifter.com/2012/04/people-who-didnt-know-the-titanic-was-real/ [accessed 26/11/13].

Lindsey, R.A. (2013), 'What the Arab Spring Tells Us About the Future of Social Media in Revolutionary Movements', Small Wars Journal, Available online at : http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/what-the-arab-spring-tells-us-about-thefuture-of-social-media-in-revolutionary-movements/ [accessed 26/11/13].

Oehmke, P. (2012), 'The Unwilling Revolutionary: Egyptian Activist Wael Ghonim's Quest for Peace', Spiegel Online, available at http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-unwilling-revolutionary-egyptian-activist-wael-ghonim-s-quest-for-peace-a-812884.html [accessed 26/11/13]

Valenzuela, S.; Park, N.; Kee, K.F. (2009), 'Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 875–901.

Wellman, B.; Haase, A.Q.; Witte, J.; Hampton, K. (2001), 'Does the Internet increase, decrease, or supplement social capital?', The American Behavioral Scientist; 45, 3; ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 436.