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

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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…...
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...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....
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Journal Article•DOI•

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

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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

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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)....
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...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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Proceedings Article•DOI•

A face(book) in the crowd: social Searching vs. social browsing

[...]

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

Michigan State University¹

04 Nov 2006

TL;DR: It is suggested that users are largely employing Facebook to learn more about people they meet offline, and are less likely to use the site to initiate new connections.

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Abstract: Large numbers of college students have become avid Facebook users in a short period of time. In this paper, we explore whether these students are using Facebook to find new people in their offline communities or to learn more about people they initially meet offline. Our data suggest that users are largely employing Facebook to learn more about people they meet offline, and are less likely to use the site to initiate new connections.

...read moreread less

1,212 citations

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

...people with whom they have an offline connection more than they ‘‘browse’’ for complete strangers to meet ( Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2006 )....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Computer-Mediated Communication Effects on Disclosure, Impressions, and Interpersonal Evaluations: Getting to Know One Another a Bit at a Time

[...]

Lisa C. Tidwell, Joseph B. Walther¹•Institutions (1)

Cornell University¹

01 Jul 2002-Human Communication Research

TL;DR: The authors examined how computer-mediated communication (CMC) partners exchange personal information in initial interactions, focusing on the effects of communication channels on self-disclosure, question-asking, and uncertainty reduction Unacquainted individuals (N = 158) met either face-to-face or via CMC Computer-mediated interactants exhibited a greater proportion of more direct and intimate uncertainty reduction behaviors than unmediated participants did.

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Abstract: This investigation examined how computer-mediated communication (CMC) partners exchange personal information in initial interactions, focusing on the effects of communication channels on self-disclosure, question-asking, and uncertainty reduction Unacquainted individuals (N = 158) met either face-to-face or via CMC Computer-mediated interactants exhibited a greater proportion of more direct and intimate uncertainty reduction behaviors than unmediated participants did, and demonstrated significantly greater gains in attributional confidence over the course of the conversations The use of direct strategies by mediated interactants resulted in judgments of greater conversational effectiveness by partners Results illuminate some microstructures previously asserted but unverified within social information processing theory (Walther, 1992), and extend uncertainty reduction theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975) to CMC interaction

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1,195 citations

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

...Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing 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)....
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...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)....
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...Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing 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). Donath and boyd (2004) hypothesize that SNSs could greatly increase the weak ties one could form and maintain, because the technology is wellsuited to maintaining such ties cheaply and easily....
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...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....
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...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....
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Journal Article•DOI•

I'll See You On “Facebook”: The Effects of Computer-Mediated Teacher Self-Disclosure on Student Motivation, Affective Learning, and Classroom Climate

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Joseph P. Mazer, Richard Murphy, Cheri J. Simonds

17 Feb 2007-Communication Education

TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of teacher self-disclosure via Facebook on anticipated college student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate, and found that participants who accessed the Facebook website of a teacher high in selfdisclosure anticipated higher levels of motivation and affective Learning and a more positive classroom climate.

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Abstract: This experimental study examined the effects of teacher self-disclosure via Facebook on anticipated college student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate. Participants who accessed the Facebook website of a teacher high in self-disclosure anticipated higher levels of motivation and affective learning and a more positive classroom climate. In their responses to open-ended items, participants emphasized possible negative associations between teacher use of Facebook and teacher credibility. Participants offered recommendations for teachers regarding the use of Facebook and other weblog services.

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1,082 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

On and Off the ’Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era

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Dmitri Williams¹•Institutions (1)

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign¹

01 Jan 2006-Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

TL;DR: The development and validation of the Internet Social Capital Scales, or ISCS, are reported on, intended to measure two different types of social capital—known as ‘‘bridging’’ and ‘"bonding”’—for both online and offline contexts.

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Abstract: Scholars investigating the relationship between the Internet and social capital have beenstymied by a series of obstacles, some due to theoretical frameworks handed downunchanged from television research, and some due to the lack of an appropriate yard-stick. For example, the social interactions that occur through television are prima faciedifferent from those that occur online. Given this basic functional difference, we cannotapproach social capital research in an online era with the same set of assumptions andmeasures. To address this gap in the literature and in our measurement toolkits, thisarticle reports on the development and validation of the Internet Social Capital Scales,or ISCS. These scales are intended to measure two different types of social capital—known as ‘‘bridging’’ and ‘‘bonding’’—for both online and offline contexts. Questionitems are developed and tested and found to be valid and psychometrically sound.Potential uses of the scales are then discussed.doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00029.x

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1,081 citations

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

...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)....
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...Williams (2006) argues that although researchers have examined potential losses of social capital in offline communities due to increased Internet use, they have not adequately explored online gains that might compensate for this....
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...Bonding was assessed using five items from the bonding subscale of the Internet social capital scales developed and validated by Williams (2006)....
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...According to Williams (2006), ‘‘members of weak-tie networks are thought to be outward looking and to include people from a broad range of backgrounds....
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...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)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Social networks and Internet connectivity effects

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Caroline Haythornthwaite¹•Institutions (1)

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign¹

01 Jun 2005-Information, Communication & Society

TL;DR: Results from a series of social network studies of media use reveal that those more strongly tied used more media to communicate than weak ties, and that media use within groups conformed to a unidimensional scale, leading to a number of implications regarding media and Internet connectivity.

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Abstract: This paper explores the impact of communication media and the Internet on connectivity between people. Results from a series of social network studies of media use are used as background for exploration of these impacts. These studies explored the use of all available media among members of an academic research group and among distance learners. Asking about media use as well as about the strength of the tie between communicating pairs revealed that those more strongly tied used more media to communicate than weak ties, and that media use within groups conformed to a unidimensional scale, showing a configuration of different tiers of media use supporting social networks of different ties strengths. These results lead to a number of implications regarding media and Internet connectivity, including: how media use can be added to characteristics of social network ties; how introducing a medium can create latent tie connectivity among group members that provides the technical means for activating weak ties, a...

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1,079 citations

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

...Haythornthwaite (2005) discusses the implications of media that ‘‘create latent tie connectivity among group members that provides the technical means for activating weak ties’’ (p....
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