Norris 2004) and Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe (2011) are talking about connecting and benefiting from people who are similar to you on SNS and offline. Both articles discuss how interacting in SNSs and online communities have positive and negative develop social capital.
SNSs and communities gives people the opportunity to communicate and meet new people with the same interest. They allow people to free themselves and take on another identity as well as give or obtain emotional support. Norris article points out that bonding is occurring on SNS and communities however, we are not bridging. According to Norris (2004), “Bridging social capital refers to social networks that bring together people of different sorts, and bonding in social capital brings together people of a similar sort.” The drawbacks to me is not showing the real you. On SNS and communication people post pictures and say things that they think other people want to hear, see or would enjoy. Another drawback is that there is no connection with people you do not know. People have friendships with previous friends instead of developing a friendship with strangers. I agree this is reasonable because so much is occurring in the world that you have to be careful about the people you communicate with. However, how do you make new connections if you connect with the same people?
I do not have any experience with SNS or communities however, from the people I spoke with agreed that bonding was not an issue. They states they connect and have many “friends” on Facebook with people the either already knew or that they feel they have something in common with such as mutual friends, hobbies, interest etc. Some people states they are bridging because they have connected with a lot of new people on Facebook and other SNS sites.
You mention that SNS allow people to free themselves and take on another identity. These goes back to several bogs back were we talked about identity, and I find it interesting because it is a very important aspect of socializing online. You have sites where you can become a whole another person and some people do it without malicious intent, but more to benefit them emotionally, however, in other cases, one can be deceived and the turn out could be ugly.
You said that not being able to have new fiends on social sites is a drawback for these sites, however, Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe noted in their study that people can find other new frinds through their friends. Also through their descriptions of the many Facebook applications such as browse, fan pages, social games…etc. In addition, these social network anyway were not designed to construct a new relationships, instead, they are built mainly to maintain your already exist online and offline friendships, and to reestablish old freindships.
I agree that SNSs and online communities both provide opportunities to befriend people that would have been impossible to communicate with otherwise. These people could have a lot more in common with members of these sites than they would have ever realized using other methods. Not only would friendships be made, but communities could also unite to accomplish a similar goal. For example, some websites have joined forces in order to get some downloadable content for an award-winning fighting game. Over 800 people have partaken in this cause, which would have been impossible without these online sites.
I agree that people’s fears of the dangers of meeting strangers online can keep them from developing new relationships and connections with others who are not someone they know from a previous acquaintance. I do wonder what measures can be taken to be able to make those new connections? Since those new connections can lead to greater acceptance of others.