Introduction
The article being reviewed is Connection Strategies: Social Capital Implications of Facebook-Enabled Communication Practices by Ellison et al. (2011). It explores the various connection strategies use on Facebook and how these relate to social capital. In the context of a virtual culture, social capital holds a key value in determining one’s social status of popularity, serving as a base to acquire information and support, as well as complement ties between individuals in real life.
The primary argument is that social information-seeking behaviors are associated with social capital, while connection strategies to strangers or close friends do not. This suggests that the Facebook identity information serves as a social lubricant that converts latent ties to enable them into social capital which can be used to broadcast requests for support and information.
Brief Summary
Social capital can be identified as benefits that people draw from social relationships and interactions. This can range from emotional support to access to information. Social capital is the essential foundation of social networks and the placement of individuals in the social structures, with the ability to reshape them and communicate. Generally, social networking sites are used more often to build upon previously established relationships, with stronger effects coming from real-life relationships and people met online perceived as weak ties. Facebook is used to reinforce these offline relationships based on one’s social network and is rarely used for search for online-only relationships.
However, a wide range of possible connections exists for those who share an offline connection as well as who share similar interests online such as group networks, games, and interest-based profile fields as well as mutual friends. Latent ties which are identified as technically possible connections but have not yet been activated (people are aware of each other, potentially briefly meeting, but never interacting online) arise whenever a new medium is introduced allowing people to connect.
Facebook friending behaviors differ individually, and most people likely have both close relationships as well as latent ties on the platform. However, from a social capital perspective, some friends are more or less beneficial than others and information needs are less likely to be responded to by strangers. More social capital is generated from the strong tie between friends and latent ties rather than strangers. The study focused on surveying undergraduate students about their connection strategies and social capital expectations. Three distinct social behaviors formed: initiating (using Facebook to meet strangers), maintaining (upkeeping existing close ties), social information seeking (building upon offline relationships).
Social information seeking is the interplay between offline and online communication used in many SNSs, and this strategy was the most relevant in the prediction of perceptions of social capital. Identity information provided on Facebook profiles serves as a social lubricant by providing individuals with social information. The total number of Facebook friends does not correspond with social capital benefits but depends on the people that individuals that considered actual friends, diminishing in value once the size reaches 400-500 (Ellison et al., 2011).
Evaluation/Critique
The article explores one of the most essential functions and behaviors that social networking sites offer which is friending and how it relates to social capital and benefits. Facebook usage has always been interrelated with social capital, as the social network was built on the whole concept of exclusivity. Originally only specific college campuses had access and to “friend” someone, you had to know a mutual friend or their full name.
So, it was developed as an online enhancement to real-life social connections. However, as Facebook became available to everyone, it turned into a platform where users could upkeep relationships from previous social circles or online-based communities. These connections helped build bonds and perpetuated networking both personal and professional, capitalizing on the social capital of having robust Facebook use and strong connections (Ellison et al., 2007).
Social media is a complex ecosystem consisting of numerous components such as profiles and self-presentation, networks and social mobilization, streams and social comparison, and messages and social connectedness. Bayer et al. (2020) support largely the critiqued article in suggesting that people typically connect to those they already know to reflect pre-existing face-to-face relationships.
These form networks, which have benefits such as pervasiveness (ability to communicate with a variety of ties), searchability, and association – with the outcome of allowing users to create, view, and traverse ties between individuals and content. The ability to broadcast to personal networks allows for implications for social capital accrual which is divided into either tangible help or emotional support/bonding.
A framework to support how individuals use social networking sites to influence social capital can be described through the Uses and gratification theory (UGT). As outlined by Phya, Jin, & Kim (2017) UGT suggests that people receive gratification through media that satisfy informational, social, and leisure needs. Media selections include social media is driven by individual differences such as self-efficacy, habitual behavior, and prior attitudes. Using SNSs, individuals derive benefits that bridge and bond social capital through aspects such as intensity, trust, and homophily in the respected use and individual social networks.
Conclusion
Overall, the article provided an interesting perspective on social connection/friending behavior and social capital. It challenged certain stereotypes that many Facebook friends indicated significant social capital, but rather that the benefits are based on real-life or latent relationships that are fostered through social networking. This research is largely supported by other studies in the field, indicating an intimate relationship between friending behaviors and SNSs use and how it leads to social capital gains that are used for informational needs.
References
Bayer, J. B., Triệu, P., & Ellison, N. B. (2020). Social media elements, ecologies, and effects. Annual Review of Psychology, 71(1), 471-497. Web.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-1168.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2011). Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society, 13(6), 873-892.
Phua, J., Jin, S. V., & Kim, J. (J. (2017). Uses and gratifications of social networking sites for bridging and bonding social capital: A comparison of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 115-122. Web.