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An online or virtual community is the gathering of people, in an online “space” where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time. Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook have become increasingly popular online communities exploited by internet users around the world. With an average of 270 million members, Facebook allows users “to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others” (Ellison, 1). My freshmen year of college I joined Facebook to stay in touch with my highschool friends and to generate new relationships with my new colleagues.
However many people believe otherwise and fail to see the value these social networking sites have to offer. In this assignment I will analyze the theory of social capital and determine whether or not people’s attitudes toward Facebook parallel their use of this particular social networking site. As Ellison explains, the internet facilitates new connections, in that it provides people with an alternative way to connect with others who share their interests or relational goals. Through these new connections an increase in social capital may result.
My first interviewee represents one member who has exponentially benefited from her strategical, daily use of Facebook. My mom, in fact admits her addiction to being an intense Facebook exploiter. Spending upwards to 2 hours daily online, my mom is constantly logging in and out multiple times a day to converse with coworkers, friends and family. As she explains, “it gives more leverage and allows me to reach out to my agents who spend little time in the office. I can add clips and write updates to keep them informed on what is happening in the company.
However, I am not just communicating to thin air, I am communicating with people that want to be communicated with, so it’s an opt in for me! ” My mom has only been a member since December and has over 700 friends already. These people represent friends past and present, as well as family, but most importantly coworkers and important people in her career field who she is constantly trying to network with. She also expressed the importance of presenting herself to her online community through the customization of her profile, status updates and photos.
In many ways, Facebook acts as an extension of her real life. Overall my mom has an extremely positive attitude towards Facebook as a communication channel which allows her to maintain and strengthen ties with friends. After explaining to her the concept of social capital, which refers to “the resources accumulated through the relationships among people,” (Ellison, 1144) I asked her whether she felt Facebook use helped to bridge or to bond social capital. Bridging capital are weak ties that provide more information support rather than emotional support.
Whereas, bonding capital refers to strong ties with close friends and family who provide more emotional support (Putnam, 2000). She explained that while she thinks it provides both, probably more bridging interactions take place than bonding. Like most people, my mom’s friends include more acquaintances who she is trying to reach out to than people she has strong connections with already. Most of her stronger ties are strengthened through face-to-face interactions. On the opposite end of the spectrum is my dad, who openly refers to himself as a “less intense” Facebook user.
Also, a newer member to Facebook, my dad has all of 60 friends and spends very little time exploring the medium. On average my dad may get on once a week to check for any new comments to respond to, but rarely ever leaves comments or status updates. He explained that he has it set up to where he can just check his email to see if he gets a message, which allows him even less time spent on Facebook. Overall my dad feels indifferent towards the site explaining that “it’s another way for people to get in contact with him, or for him to get in contact with them, but does not play a major role in his everyday social life. When asked about who he thought was his Facebook audience, he presumed that it was mostly past clients and old friends from college. In this way my dad seems to be using Facebook for task-related purposes rather than a social environment to connect with friends. However, when asked whether or not it had a negative or positive effect on society, he seemed apathetic stating that “it’s just another channel of communication. ” I proceeded to point out to him my mom’s intense usage and the ways she felt it helped her with connecting to the real estate world.
After some thought he agreed that there are some benefits to the medium, which includes allowing the chance to bridge weaker ties, as in my mom’s case which has helped her remain close to agents that she doesn’t get to see on a daily basis. When comparing my two interviewee’s responses I found that there was no difference in attitudes towards FB based on the intensity of FB usage. This is evidenced by my dad’s outlook, which is not positive or negative, but indifferent. FB, he feels acts as just another tool if one wanted to utilize it. However, I predict that this is not always the case.
It seems that someone who characterizes himself as a less intense user would parallel more negative attributes to FB. Similar to the idea of the consistency theory, which I have learned in past studies, we want our actions to parallel our attitudes and beliefs. This also helps explain why overall positive views are attributed to the medium by users who spend more time on FB and identify themselves as more intense users. Consistent with Ellison et al’s study, I found that my mom and dad have similar audiences, which include mostly business acquaintances and close friends.
In this study they found that FB was utilized “to maintain existing offline relationships or to solidify what would otherwise be ephemeral, temporary acquaintances” (Ellison et al, 13). My interviewees had similar with regards to social capital. Even my dad, the less intense FB user, believes that FB when utilized can help build relationships because it allows users to interact with people they are not in contact with on a regular basis. Both subjects thought that FB is more useful for bridging rather than for bonding social capital.
Their perceptions were in line with Haythornthwaite’s predictions. Ellison, N. B. , Steinfield, C. , & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, article 1. Haythornthwaite, C. (2007). Social networks and online communities. In Joinson, A. N. , McKenna, K. Y. A. , Postmes, T. , & Reips, U. -D. (Eds. ), Oxford handbook of Internet psychology (pp. 121-137). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.