Myspace, Facebook, and The Strength of Internet Ties:
Online Social Networking and Bridging Social Capital
By: Angela M. Adkins (May, 2009)
2009
This study examines the user and usage characteristics of two popular social networking websites, Myspace and Facebook, and then investigates the relationship between online social networking and bridging social capital. Myspace users tend to have less education and be more racially diverse, have lower incomes, and focus more on forming new social ties online. Conversely, Facebook users tend to be better educated, have higher income, and focus more on maintaining relationships with their existing offline ties. A positive association exists between the degree of online social networking and bridging capital, although there was no meaningful difference in bridging capital between those who used Myspace only and those who used Facebook only.
However, the results indicate that the use of Myspace in conjunction with Facebook significantly increases bridging capital and moderates the effect of race, income, and degree of usage. Hence, online social networking is a useful tool for enlarging and maintaining a diverse social network, but that the examination of online social networking in the aggregate may hide distinctions among sites. Different sites are used in different ways, and thus using more than one site might provide the greatest benefit in terms of increased bridging capital. Using both Myspace and Facebook together, as opposed to using only one site, magnifies the positive effect of race and social networking intensity on bridging capital. Conversely, using both of the sites reverses the positive effect of income on bridging capital.
Most people used these social networking sites to blend their online and offline worlds, maintaining connections with friends and family and spending time in person with many of their online contacts. However, there are some distinct differences in typical usage by site. Facebook users tend to focus more on managing existing offline ties, while Myspace users may focus more on creating new ties with people they meet online. By contrast, users who more frequently create new weak ties online may have connections with a more diverse network of people and ultimately reap more in terms of bridging capital. Among those who do engage in social networking, then, using more than one site may be one way to narrow the gap in bridging social capital due to other factors.
Summarized by: Noordiana Bt Ab Ghani (2008285646)
Source: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=akron1239389919
