So this week we were introduced to the term social capital. Social capital ‘refers to features of social organisation such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for mutual benefit’ (Putnam 1999); so in other words its resources gathered through the relationships between people. Social capital can be used to analyse social relations and help researchers understand how they work on and offline.
Social capital is closely associated with social networking website such as Facebook. There are two types of ties that social network websites provide; these are ‘loose’ ties and ‘strong’ ties. These are social ties that are from people’s relationships and that form different connections. Weak ties are ‘loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support’ (Granovetter 1982). On Facebook I have over 600 friends, most of whom are weak ties; they are people I have met once through a friend or met on a day trip. I would not share anything personal with these people however they may be useful for other things like finding out information on an event. Weak ties can also occur offline; during my time at uni I have made quite a few acquaintances. They are people I might say hello to because I was introduced to them through a friend, but our conversation would not be of any depth. Weak ties lead onto the term ‘bridging’ social capital. Bridging social capital are friends through a friend, which is something social networks advocate. Bridging social capital and loose ties can be maintained because websites like Facebook allow ‘users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources’ (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman et al., 2001).
Unlike weak ties, strong ties provide the emotional support that weak ties are missing. Strong ties refer to family members and close friends who can provide the support causal friends couldn’t. On Facebook I have numerous family members as friend and all of my close friends; I would turn to one of these people if I had a problem over anyone else. Bonding social capital is found between individuals in tightly knit, emotionally close relationships and links with strong ties. These types of ties are said to increase social capital.
The internet is said to have a big effect on social capital as it can strengthen or weaken them. Some people also think that the internet may have problems maintaining these ties. The internet can strengthen ties as old friendships can be maintained on social networking sites, but on the other hand it can weaken individual’s social capital because it takes people away from face-to-face time with others.
Facebook is something that I use quite a lot because it helps me communicate and stay close to my family abroad as well as here in the UK, but who don’t live near me. I also use it to contact my friends at uni especially if we’re going to meet up to do work, as the website is quick and easy to use. The website has also provided me with a lot of useful opportunities and information which I got from ‘loose ties’, that without facebook I would not have.
I think that social capital is a good way to analyse social relations online. However it is hard to say whether social capital is increasing or decreasing because social network websites are not the only way that people connect with one another; there is the matter of how they connect offline.
Reading
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
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