This paper studied the relationship between Facebook and three types of social capital. Social capital is the nuances and interactions between individuals in a society of any size. It also most commonly refers to the benefits and reciprocity that is associated with a social network. Weak ties, or bridging social capital is loosely connected with Facebook usage. Certain types of usage will enable better bridging connections. Bonding capital, or empathetic close ties, are most definitely correlated with intense Facebook usage. Finally, maintained social capital, or the strengthening of weak ties, is promoted through Facebook usage.
My immediate concern with this paper is the existence of three types of social capital. A study (link) done in 2009 by the same lab, studying the social capital of an industry social network, was only concerned with two types of social capital, bridging and bonding. In fact, they did not even mention the existence of maintenance social capital, or why it was left out. While reading this older paper, I see that maintenance social capital is for keeping up with old connections. I can somewhat see how that is only relevant to college students using Facebook. Though, would a person switching departments with an industry not feel similarly? Would connection with old coworkers not be beneficial? I personally feel that it would have been interesting to have studied that. Though, that may be impossible now given the cease of IBM’s Beehive.
I feel that bridging social capital is certainly strongly promoted by social networks, Facebook being one of the paragons. Anonymity, especially situated anonymity (link), allows people to form weaker than real life ties with people based on certain common contexts, for example, location or interest. As the paper predicted, technology has enabled connections that are not possible in the offline world. As proven by dating apps, though not necessarily successful, online platforms allow people to slowly form weak ties that eventually can lead to offline connection as well.
This study resulted in a somewhat revolutionary questionnaire. The Facebook intensity scale is popularly adapted in measuring emotional engagement in Human Computer Interactions research. Though, I wonder if the same scale could still be applied to Facebook. The pride associated with using Facebook in 2007 had much to do with the recency of the platform and social networks in general. Facebook has also branched out so much that it is involved with Instagram, login in to Venmo or Spotify, etc. I think the scale is more geared toward new creations. However, it can certainly be argued that the scale can still be used for Facebook, it is just that Facebook is clearly very successful in securing people’s dependency and interest.