Effects of user behaviors on accumulation of social capital in an online social network

Abstract

The use of social network sites helps people to make and maintain social ties accumulating social capital, which is increasingly important for individual success. There is a wide variation in the amount and structure of online ties, and to some extent this variation is contingent on specific online user behaviors which are to date under-researched. In this work, we examine an entire city-bounded friendship network (N = 194,601) extracted from VK social network site to explore how specific online user behaviors are related to structural social capital in a network of geographically proximate ties. Social network analysis was used to evaluate individual social capital as a network asset, and multiple regression analysis-to determine and estimate the effects of online user behaviors on social capital. The analysis reveals that the graph is both clustered and highly centralized which suggests the presence of a hierarchical structure: a set of sub-communities united by city-level hubs. Against this background, membership in more online groups is positively associated with user's brokerage in the location-bounded network. Additionally, the share of local friends, the number of received likes and the duration of SNS use are associated with social capital indicators. This contributes to the literature on the formation of online social capital, examined at the level of a large and geographically localized population.

The bright side of social network sites: On the potential of online social capital for mental health

“…The social capital concept has been applied by multiple SNS scholars over the time (e.g. 16 – 18 ) and most of the literature distinguishes between two forms: (1) bonding social capital, which is related to close relationships like those from family and close friends and (2) bridging social capital, which is rooted in large and heterogeneous networks. The conceptual differentiation goes back to the work of the sociologist and political scientist R. Putnam, 19 a highly influential researcher from the normative school.…”

Social Behavior Of Panrita Lopi Group In Bira Village, Bulukumba Regency

“…For the shipbuilding in Bira Village to remain sustainable and not experience a shift, regeneration is needed so that the Pinisi shipbuilding remains sustainable along with the times. (Rykov et al, 2020).…”

Social capital and use of assisted reproductive technology in young couples: Ecological study using application information for government subsidies in Japan

“…Accordingly, it was not possible to evaluate the effects of individual-level factors (such as individual socioeconomic status) and cross-level interactions between prefectural- and individual-level factors using a multilevel approach. Further, although we used multiple indicators to evaluate different aspects of social capital, there are other ways to measure the existence of community networks, such as perceived civic engagement and perceived trust ( Reininger et al, 2013 ; Snelgrove et al, 2009 ), and other measures of social capital such as religious affiliation ( Maselko et al, 2011 ), ethnicity ( Johnson-Singh et al, 2018 ), employment ( Sidorchuk et al, 2017 ), and online interaction ( Rykov et al, 2020 ).…”