Ellison, Lampe, Steinfield, & Vital (Week 9) Social Capital

What are the mechanisms of social capital generation in social network sites? (p. 137-138)

- Facebook enables individuals to maintain a larger set of weak ties - Facebook allows individuals to make ephemeral connections persistent - Facebook lowers the cost of maintaining (or re-engaging) weak ties - Facebook profiles can lower the barriers to initial interaction and facilitate formation of common ground - Facebook makes it easier to seek information and support from one's social network, and to provide these resources to others

What are weak ties? How do they relate to social capital? (p. 128)

- Weak ties often serve as bridges, connecting otherwise disparate groups of individuals - Individuals that span these gaps ("structural holes") are at an advantage because they have access to a more diverse set of information and can better control the flow of that information between groups, this garnering more bridging social capital

What are the two ways in which Facebook extends proximity-based social properties? (p. 137)

1. it allows those who formed a relationship through physical proximity, but subsequently lost that proximity, to maintain the relationship 2. Facebook can reinforce relationships formed through proximity that would be too ephemeral to survive otherwise

What is bridging and bonding capital? (p. 127)

Bridging: inclusive and better suited for information diffusion; it is created through exposure to heterogeneous networks with the majority of connections representing weak ties; diverse perspectives Bonding: created among groups of strongly connected individuals such as one's family and closest friends; linked to social support and more substantive support

What are latent ties? (P. 130)

Ties which are, "technically possible but not yet activated socially""

What is social capital? (p. 127)

the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition