The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites

doi:10.1111/J.1083-6101.2007.00367.X

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The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites

Journal Article•DOI•

The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites

Nicole B. Ellison¹, Charles Steinfield¹, Cliff Lampe¹•Institutions (1)

Michigan State University¹

01 Jul 2007-Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111))-Vol. 12, Iss: 4, pp 1143-1168

TL;DR: Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

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Abstract: This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one’s ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on results from a survey of undergraduate students (N = 286) suggest a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

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Journal Article•DOI•

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

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danah boyd¹, Nicole B. Ellison²•Institutions (2)

University of California, Berkeley¹, Michigan State University²

01 Oct 2007-Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

TL;DR: This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright and which are likely to be copyrighted.

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Abstract: Social network sites SNSs are increasingly attracting the attention of academic and industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together scholarship on these emergent phenomena In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles in this special section and conclude with considerations for future research

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14,912 citations

Cites background from "The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..."

...Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) suggest that Facebook is used to maintain existing offline relationships or solidify offline connections, as opposed to meeting new people....
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...This is one of the chief dimensions that differentiate SNSs from earlier forms of public CMC such as newsgroups (Ellison et al., 2007)....
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Book•

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

[...]

Sherry Turkle¹•Institutions (1)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology¹

01 Jan 2011

TL;DR: In Alone Together as mentioned in this paper, MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives and argues that despite the handwaving of todays self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

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Abstract: Consider Facebookits human contact, only easier to engage with and easier to avoid. Developing technology promises closeness. Sometimes it delivers, but much of our modern life leaves us less connected with people and more connected to simulations of them. In Alone Together, MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. Its a nuanced exploration of what we are looking forand sacrificingin a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of todays self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

...read moreread less

2,342 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students' Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation

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Sebastián Valenzuela¹, Namsu Park¹, Kerk F. Kee¹•Institutions (1)

University of Texas at Austin¹

01 Jul 2009-Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

TL;DR: Positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and students' life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation are found, suggesting that online social networks are not the most effective solution for youth disengagement from civic duty and democracy.

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Abstract: This study examines if Facebook, one of the most popular social network sites among college students in the U.S., is related to attitudes and behaviors that enhance individuals' social capital. Using data from a random web survey of college students across Texas (n = 2,603), we find positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and students' life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation. While these findings should ease the concerns of those who fear that Facebook has mostly negative effects on young adults, the positive and significant associations between Facebook variables and social capital were small, suggesting that online social networks are not the most effective solution for youth disengagement from civic duty and democracy.

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2,070 citations

Cites background or methods from "The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..."

...By using SNSs, individuals seek to maintain and increase their social networks (Ellison et al., 2007; Joinson, 2008)....
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...A more complete measure of intensity of Facebook use was developed by Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007), who created a scale to gauge user engagement in Facebook activities based on number of ‘‘friends,’’ amount of time spent on the network on a typical day, and level of agreement with several…...
[...]
...For instance, college students with lower levels of life satisfaction could seek to participate in online networks to increase their personal well-being (Ellison et al., 2007)....
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...Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication...
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...This proposition was empirically tested by Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) using survey data from a small sample of undergraduate students in the U.S....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization

[...]

Robert M. Bond¹, Christopher J. Fariss¹, Jason J. Jones¹, Adam D. I. Kramer², Cameron Marlow², Jaime E. Settle¹, James H. Fowler¹ - Show less +3 more•Institutions (2)

University of California, San Diego¹, Facebook²

13 Sep 2012-Nature

TL;DR: Results from a randomized controlled trial of political mobilization messages delivered to 61 million Facebook users during the 2010 US congressional elections show that the messages directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behaviour of millions of people.

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Abstract: Online social networks are everywhere. They must be influencing the way society is developing, but hard evidence is scarce. For instance, the relative effectiveness of online friendships and face-to-face friendships as drivers of social change is not known. In what may be the largest experiment ever conducted with human subjects, James Fowler and colleagues randomly assigned messages to 61 million Facebook users on Election Day in the United States in 2010, and tracked their behaviour both online and offline, using publicly available records. The results show that the messages influenced the political communication, information-seeking and voting behaviour of millions of people. Social messages had more impact than informational messages and 'weak ties' were much less likely than 'strong ties' to spread behaviour via the social network. Thus online mobilization works primarily through strong-tie networks that may exist offline but have an online representation.

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2,003 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

College students' social networking experiences on Facebook

[...]

Tiffany A. Pempek¹, Yevdokiya Yermolayeva¹, Sandra L. Calvert¹•Institutions (1)

Georgetown University¹

01 May 2009-Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

TL;DR: For instance, this article found that 92 undergraduates completed a diary-like measure each day for a week, reporting daily time use and responding to an activities checklist to assess their use of the popular social networking site, Facebook.

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1,997 citations

Cites background or result from "The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..."

...A recent survey of college students in the U.S. showed that social networking sites are used for social interaction with offline acquaintances in order to maintain friendships rather than to make new friends (Ellison et al., 2007)....
[...]
...Only about 9% of our young adult sample used Facebook to make new friends, a finding consistent with those reported by Ellison et al. (2007) for college students, but which differs from findings with teens, about half of whom use social networking sites to make new friends (Lenhart &Madden, 2007)....
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...Previous studies have found that more than 90% of college students use Facebook (Ellison et al., 2007; Wiley & Sisson, 2006)....
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...All rights reserved....
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References

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Journal Article•DOI•

Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept

[...]

Paul S. Adler¹, Seok-Woo Kwon¹•Institutions (1)

University of Southern California¹

01 Jan 2002-Academy of Management Review

TL;DR: A growing number of sociologists, political scientists, economists, and organizational theorists have invoked the concept of social capital in the search for answers to a broadening range of questions being confronted in their own fields as mentioned in this paper.

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Abstract: A growing number of sociologists, political scientists, economists, and organizational theorists have invoked the concept of social capital in the search for answers to a broadening range of questions being confronted in their own fields. Seeking to clarify the concept and help assess its utility for organizational theory, we synthesize the theoretical research undertaken in these various disciplines and develop a common conceptual framework that identifies the sources, benefits, risks, and contingencies of social capital.

...read moreread less

8,518 citations

"The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..." refers background in this paper

...Social capital has been linked to a variety of positive social outcomes, such as better public health, lower crime rates, and more efficient financial markets (Adler & Kwon, 2002)....
[...]
...Social capital is an elastic term with a variety of definitions in multiple fields (Adler & Kwon, 2002), conceived of as both a cause and an effect (Resnick, 2001; Williams, 2006)....
[...]

Book•

An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology

[...]

Pierre Bourdieu, Loïc Wacquant

15 Jul 1992

TL;DR: The authors provides a systematic and accessible overview of the internal logic of Bourdieu's work by explicating thematic and methodological principles underlying his work, including a theory of knowledge, practice, and society.

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Abstract: Over the last three decades, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has produced one of the most imaginative and subtle bodies of social theory and research of the post war era. Yet, despite the influence of his work, no single introduction to his wide-ranging "oeuvre" is available. This book, intended for an English-speaking audience, offers a systematic and accessible overview, providing interpretive keys to the internal logic of Bourdieu's work by explicating thematic and methodological principles underlying his work. The structure of Bourdieu's theory of knowledge, practice, and society is first dissected by Loi c Wacquant; he then collaborates with Bourdieu in a dialogue in which they discuss central concepts of Bourdieu's work, confront the main objections and criticisms his work has met, and outline Bourdieu's views of the relation of sociology to philosophy, economics, history, and politics. The final section captures Bourdieu in action in the seminar room as he addresses the topic of how to practice the craft of reflexive sociology. Throughout, they stress Bourdieu's emphasis on reflexivity--his inclusion of a theory of intellectual practice as an integral component of a theory of society--and on method--particularly his manner of posing problems that permits a transfer of knowledge from one area of inquiry into another. Amplified by notes and an extensive bibliography, this synthetic view is essential reading for both students and advanced scholars. Pierre Bourdieu is Professor of Sociology at the Colle ge de France. Loi c J. D. Wacquant is a Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard University.

...read moreread less

8,465 citations

"The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..." refers background in this paper

...Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) define social capital as ‘‘the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition’’ (p....
[...]
...Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) define social capital as ‘‘the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition’’ (p. 14)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited

[...]

Mark Granovetter

01 Jan 1983-Sociological Theory

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a method to solve the problem of the "missing link" problem in the context of Haifa University, Israel, and their Ph.D. dissertation.

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Abstract: of Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa, Israel.

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7,638 citations

"The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..." refers background in this paper

...The former is linked to what network researchers refer to as ‘‘weak ties,’’ which are loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support (Granovetter, 1982)....
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...Granovetter (1973, 1982) has suggested that weak ties provide more benefit when the weak tie is not associated with stronger ties, as may be the case for maintained high school relationships....
[...]

Posted Content•

Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale

[...]

William Pavot¹, Ed Diener¹•Institutions (1)

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign¹

10 Jan 2013-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) as discussed by the authors was developed to assess satisfaction with the respondent's life as a whole, which does not assess the individual's satisfaction with life domains such as health or mental health but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed to assess satisfaction with the respondent’s life as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or ﬁnances but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose. Normative data are presented for the scale, which shows good convergent validity with other scales and with other types of assessments of subjective well-being. Life satisfaction as assessed by the SWLS shows a degree of temporal stability (e.g., 0.54 for 4 years), yet the SWLS has shown sufﬁcient sensitivity to be potentially valuable to detect change in life satisfaction during the course of clinical intervention. Further, the scale shows discriminant validity from emotional well-being measures. The SWLS is recommended as a complement to scales that focus on psychopathology or emotional well-being because it assesses an individuals’ conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life by using the person’s own criteria.

...read moreread less

4,255 citations

"The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:”..." refers background or methods in this paper

...Putnam (2000) argues that one of the possible causes of decreased social capital in the U.S. is the increase in families moving for job reasons; other research has explored the role of the Internet in these transitions (Cummings, Lee, & Kraut, 2006; Wellman et al., 2001). Wellman et al. (2001), for example, find that heavy Internet users rely on email to maintain long distance relationships, rather than using it as a substitute for offline interactions with those living nearby....
[...]
...In Putnam’s (2000) view, bonding social capital reflects strong ties with family and close friends, who might be in a position to provide emotional support or access to scarce resources....
[...]
...Putnam (2000) argues that one of the possible causes of decreased social capital in the U.S. is the increase in families moving for job reasons; other research has explored the role of the Internet in these transitions (Cummings, Lee, & Kraut, 2006; Wellman et al., 2001). Wellman et al. (2001), for example, find that heavy Internet users rely on email to maintain long distance relationships, rather than using it as a substitute for offline interactions with those living nearby. Some researchers have coined the term ‘‘friendsickness’’ to refer to the distress caused by the loss of connection to old friends when a young person moves away to college (Paul & Brier, 2001). Internet technologies feature prominently in a study of communication technology use by this population by Cummings, Lee, and Kraut (2006), who found that services like email and instant messaging help college students remain close to their high school friends after they leave home for college....
[...]
...In Putnam’s (2000) view, bonding social capital reflects strong ties with family and close friends, who might be in a position to provide emotional support or access to scarce resources. Williams (2006) points out that little empirical work has explicitly examined the effects of the Internet on bonding social capital, although some studies have questioned whether the Internet supplements or supplants strong ties (see Bargh &McKenna, 2004, for a review)....
[...]
...The scale of satisfaction with life at MSU was adapted from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Suh, & Oishi, 1997; Pavot & Diener, 1993), a five-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive judgments of one’s life....
[...]

Book Chapter•DOI•

Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale

[...]

William Pavot¹, Ed Diener²•Institutions (2)

Southwest Minnesota State University¹, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign²

01 Jun 1993-Psychological Assessment

TL;DR: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) as discussed by the authors was developed to assess satis-faction with the respondent's life as a whole, which does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed to assess satis-faction with the respondent’s life as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances but allows subjects to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose. Normative data are presented for the scale, which shows good convergent validity with other scales and with other types of assessments of subjective well-being. Life satisfaction as assessed by the SWLS shows a degree of temporal stability (e.g., 0.54 for 4 years), yet the SWLS has shown sufficient sensitivity to be potentially valuable to detect change in life satis-faction during the course of clinical intervention. Further, the scale shows discrim-inant validity from emotional well-being measures. The SWLS is recommended as a complement to scales that focus on psychopathology or emotional well-being because it assesses an individuals’ conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life by using the person’s own criteria.

...read moreread less

3,372 citations