Netville Returns!

While discussing the benefits of Facebook "friends", Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe make a reference to "the wired Toronto neighborhood studied by Hampton and Wellman" (p. 1144). It's Netville! The authors explain that Hampton and Wellman suggest "that information technology may enhance place-based community and facilitate the generation of social capital" (p. 1144). The Netville study shows that "wired" neighbors were more involved with the community and engaged more with each other.

In a similar study out of UC Irvine (that I first mentioned a few weeks ago), Venkatesh, Chen and Gonzales also conclude that the wired community of Ladera Ranch, CA allows the residents to feel "more empowered" by allowing them more ways to maintain relationships, whether they be strong or weak, because the residents can use a form of communication that offers high or low intimacy levels.

I think it is interesting that Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe write that "the internet has been linked both to increases and decreases in social capital" (p. 1146). In the early years of the internet, I think there was a fear that online communities would lead to a decrease in social capital because people were spending less time in their "real" worlds and more time in their virtual ones. However, I do think that SNSs, in their current form, are supplementing our "real" world relationships and so, it would seem, they could be helping us increase our social capital.

"Social networks change over time as relationships are formed or abandoned" (p. 1148). Before SNSs, it required more time and effort to stay connected to people outside of our immediate geographic area. Today, I think it is possible to maintain a larger, and stronger social network because SNSs offer a platform for us to engage with them with little effort. We can still show we care, but it doesn't take that long. How many of you post happy birthday messages on your friend's Facebook wall? And how many still send a card? I do both. Recently, I had a friend tell me that I was the only one who sent her a birthday card this year, and it meant a lot to her.

Once again, I am reminded that a new technology doesn't have to replace an old one. Using both offers the potential to strengthen our ability to maintain social capital.