As we talked about in our last online chat, many students are heavily involved in social media sites. I am active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, and I have gotten many positive things through connecting with people and finding new information. It was interesting to read about social capitol, and I really think that most of the benefits and drawbacks of SNS and online communities have to do with it.
Social capitol is known as relationship capitol; in other words, it is a way to measure how useful our relationships (one-on-one or group) can be. Bonding capitol is about close relationships, and has to do with emotional support and people’s willingness to lend you money or do other large favors. Bridging capitol is about acquaintances and casual friendships, and this can lead to “connections” such as new information or a job. Both types of capitol are very important for succeeding in life, and SNS and online communities allow us to easily meet people and maintain relationships with close friends. In fact, one article said that people who have diverse social circles can more easily get help finding a new job or learning important information. These are obviously huge benefits of being involved on social media sites! I did not find many drawbacks listed in this week’s articles, but obviously people can become so involved in social media that they neglect the “real-life” aspects of their relationships. Since people often post about the positivity in their lives (pretty food, achievement statuses, etc), it can be hard to really learn about people’s struggles and character. I also know many people who are so attached to Facebook on their phone that they can’t even focus on what’s happening right in front of them. On the other hand, I have benefited quite a bit from bridging capitol. I have met several people by first adding them on Facebook, and it’s interesting to see how the first level of networking (liking their posts, photos, etc) can lead to furthering the relationship and eventually working together. In moderation, SNS and online communities can be very useful.
I like the point you made that many people only post about positive and sometimes trivial things. It seems that some people are more concerned with their self-presentation than generating social capitol. I derive very little value from my network on Facebook these days. A few of my close friends don’t even have Facebook or have deleted their accounts. Most of the ties in my network are weak ties. And they post about things that matter very little to me. I get more social capitol from Twitter, mostly because it’s like a news site to me.
“In fact, one article said that people who have diverse social circles can more easily get help finding a new job or learning important information.”
What you said here took me back several weeks when we read about the middle aged woman who took a bad fall and had to be in the hospital for several months. She and her husband’s diverse network were able to provide financial support and in kind donations such as cooked meals and clothing in their time of need. Its nice that the readings were reinforcing of these ideas over the semester.
SNS sites like faebook or myspace seem to weaken connections between people as is allows users to share various types of content that build the self presentation rather than the social relationships.
I really appreciated your definition of social capitol! They way you re-worded it and then further explained it really helped me completely understand the term. Like you, I also find myself wondering what the drawbacks to social networking sites are, because the studies seem to focus more on the positives. Obviously, there must be some negatives to having a Facebook page. I now what my negative experiences were (the ones that caused me to delete my page completely) but I don’t see a lot of focus given to the darker or frustrating side of SNSes. I hate to think I’m all alone in disliking SNSes!! However, many of these posts have opened my eyes to the positives of these sites. I guess its all in how a person uses them.
“Bridging capitol is about acquaintances and casual friendships, and this can lead to “connections” such as new information or a job.” Statement stuck out to me because I am attempting to build a business and I do use Facebook and Instagram as ways to network and market my products. I also have met people through Facebook that notify about job postings that I would have not known about.