Connecting and being connected: investigating friending practices across multiple social networking sites

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien Wen Yuan ◽  
Yu-Hao Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Relationship Maintenance ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk

PurposeSocial networking sites (SNSs) offer people the possibility of maintaining larger networks of social ties, which also entails more complex relationship maintenance across multiple platforms. Whom to “friend” and via which platform can involve complex deliberations. This study investigates the relationships between users' perceived friending affordances of five popular SNSs (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn) and their friending behaviors concerning strong ties, weak ties (existing and latent ties) and parasocial ties.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey using Qualtrics was provided to participants (N = 626) through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The survey asked their SNS use and their friending behaviors with different ties on each of the sites.FindingsUsers' friending decisions are dependent on an interplay of socio-technical affordances of each SNS and specific needs for the ties. The authors found that the affordances of bridging social capital and enjoyment are aligned with friending weak and parasocial ties, respectively. The affordances of bonding social capital were not valued to friend strong ties.Originality/valueThe study extends the affordance and social capital literature by assessing users' perceived, contextualized SNS affordances in relation to actual communication behaviors in friending different social ties. This approach provides contextualized insights to friending decisions and practices on SNSs.

Online Social Capital Among Social Networking Sites' Users

2019 ◽  
pp. 90-119
Author(s):  
Azza Abdel-Azim Mohamed Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Bridging Social Capital ◽  
Exchange Of Information

This research aimed to explore types of online social capital (bridging and bonding) that the Emiratis perceive in the context of social networking site (SNS) usage. A sample of 230 Emiratis from two Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, was used to investigate the hypothesis. The results showed that WhatsApp was the most frequent SNS used by the respondents. Also, a significant correlation of the intensity of social networking usage and bridging social capital was found, while there was no significant association between SNS usage and bonding social capital. The factors determined the SNSs usage motivations among the respondents were exchange of information, sociability, accessibility, and connections with overseas friends and families. Males were more likely than females to connect with Arab (non-Emiratis) and online bonding social capital. Both genders were the same in their SNSs motivations and online bridging social capital.

Building brand loyalty through user engagement in online brand communities in social networking sites

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiabing Zheng ◽  
Christy M. K. Cheung ◽  
Matthew K.O. Lee ◽  
Liang Liang
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Brand Loyalty ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed through user engagement. Design/methodology/approach – The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users. Findings – Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community. Research limitations/implications – The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective. Practical implications – The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for building brand loyalty through online communities. Strategies that encourage members to engage in online brand communities on social networking sites such as Facebook are also provided. Originality/value – The concept of user engagement in online brand communities is still poorly understood, underscoring the need for theoretically based research of user engagement. This paper enriches the knowledge in the area of brand engagement by presenting a research model that introduces the concept of user engagement in social media research and empirically examines its role in building brand loyalty in online brand communities.

scholarly journals One Big Happy Family: Bridging and Bonding Social capital in families using Social Networking Sites

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meera Hirani ◽  
Abha Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Indian Population ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
Positive Outcome ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Major Mode

Social networking has become a major mode of communication over the past decade. Professional networks such as Linkedin, Ecademy, Cofoundr have gained popularity among business and entrepreneurs while for personal use Facebook, Whatsapp and MySpace have achieved worldwide acceptability. Families, friends and significant others are using Hike, Instagram, Twitter, Messenger and other applications for regular interaction, providing social support, incite feelings of patriotism, collective identity and social interest. Studies on negative impacts of Social Networking Sites have outnumbered and overshadowed the researches that focus on its positive outcome. It is imperative to study, explore and find novel ways to use SNS for society’s benefit. India is undergoing radical changes and the young adults and adolescents are building new ways of bridging and bonding social capital. The present paper presents a theoretical model that explains the causal relation of use of Social Networking Sites with social capital and psychological wellbeing in purview and highlights the positive outcomes of use Social Networking Sites (from here on SNS) among youth and its utility in maintaining family values and relations in this fast paced environment with Indian population in perspective. Need for empirical research on the positive outcome of SNS in Indian population has been emphasized along with recommendations for development of close bonds with family and caution of use of SNS among adolescents and young adults has been given.

scholarly journals A Comprehensive Study on Social Commerce in Social Networking Sites

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402093622
Author(s):  
Md. Alamgir Hossain ◽  
Minho Kim
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Social Commerce ◽  
Perceived Trust ◽  
Environment Quality

The study aims to examine user’s perceptions of the service quality of social networking sites (SNSs), contributing to customer satisfaction and usage intention leading to social commerce (s-commerce) intention. An online survey with a structured questionnaire was conducted to obtain contextual data, comprising 549 valid samples. The results indicate that outcome and environment quality have a significant influence on satisfaction, whereas interaction and outcome quality have a positive impact on usage intention of SNSs. Satisfaction is a noble indicator of usage intention; social capital and perceived trusts have a significant effect on s-commerce intention; and usage intention has the greatest influence on s-commerce intention. Perceived trust proves to be an important partial mediator between usage intention and s-commerce intention. Our results highlight the important role of service quality in behavioral perceptions of SNS users, shed much light on the social capital and s-commerce intention, and provide valuable contributions for understanding s-commerce behavior in SNSs context. The results of this study bridge gaps in SNS literature by demonstrating how s-commerce vendors or SNS practitioners can increase service quality, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and usage intention and thereby affecting the acceptance of s-commerce.

The use of online social networking sites to nurture and cultivate bonding social capital: A systematic review of the literature from 1997 to 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2710-2729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Online Social Networking ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Manual Review

Any social phenomenon with more than a billion participants daily is ripe for investigation into the implications of social capital. This research conducts a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature and conference material published between 1 January 1997 and 31 March 2018 regarding the question, can the use of online social networking sites cultivate and nurture an individual’s bonding social capital? The systematic review using EBSCOhost, EndNote, and final manual review process has aggregated 54 articles containing 116 distinct studies resulting in 85 answering in the affirmative to the research question. These studies are coded into a 13-category framework to provide a roadmap to future researchers. The results are wide and varied providing data from large and small groups. Generalization of the results supports the research question in that individual bonding social capital can be cultivated and nurtured via use of online social networking sites.

Social networking sites as a learning tool

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelia Sanchez-Casado ◽  
Juan Gabriel Cegarra Navarro ◽  
Anthony Wensley ◽  
Eva Tomaseti-Solano
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Knowledge ◽  
Customer Capital

Purpose – Over the past few years, social networking sites (SNSs) have become very useful for firms, allowing companies to manage the customer–brand relationships. In this context, SNSs can be considered as a learning tool because of the brand knowledge that customers develop from these relationships. Because of the fact that knowledge in organisations is embodied in the concept of the learning organisation, customers may create brand knowledge as a consequence of two learning facilitators: informational and instrumental value. Then, the purpose of this paper is to identify the role played by brand knowledge in the process of creating customer capital, in the context of SNSs. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 259 users of SNSs, who were followers or fans of brand pages, participated in this study. Data were collected through an online survey and they were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings – The results of the study show that brand pages at SNS can perform brand knowledge by providing purposive gratifications to its customers. Moreover, they can also develop an indirect effect on customer capital, through the direct effect that brand knowledge has on it. Therefore, the results of the study will help managers design their learning strategies in relation to SNS and confirm the need of using SNS as a learning tool. Originality/value – Few, if any, studies have analysed whether gratifications, usually related to media, work as learning facilitators in the context of brand pages at SNS.

Social capital, motivations, and mobile coupon sharing

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefeng Zhao ◽  
Qing Tang ◽  
Shan Liu ◽  
Fen Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Self Worth

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate social capital theory and motivation theory to identify the factors that affect the intention of users to share mobile coupons (m-coupons) via social network sites (SNS). Social capital includes social ties, trust, and perceived similarity, whereas motivation comprises sense of self-worth and socializing. Design/methodology/approach – A research model that integrates three social capital factors, two motivations, and m-coupon sharing is developed. Quantitative data from 297 users who had coupon usage experience are collected via offline and online survey. Partial least squares is used to conduct data analysis and test hypotheses. Findings – Social ties, trust, and perceived similarity are positively related to m-coupon sharing intention and positively affect sense of self-worth and socializing, which have significant positive effects on m-coupon sharing intention and mediate the relationships between social capital factors and sharing intention. Originality/value – This study highlights the integrated effects of social capital and motivations on m-coupon sharing intention in SNS. While social capital factors (i.e. social ties, trust, and perceived similarity) and motivations (i.e. sense of self-worth and socializing) positively affect m-coupon sharing, motivations are more directly associated with m-coupon sharing than social capital factors.

A Meta-Analysis of Social Networking Online and Social Capital

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Liu ◽  
Sarah E. Ainsworth ◽  
Roy F. Baumeister
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Hand Search ◽  
Bridging Social Capital ◽  
Bridging Capital ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
The Relationship

Social networking sites offer new avenues for interpersonal communication that may enable people to build social capital. The meta-analyses reported in this paper evaluated the relationship between social network site (SNS) use and 2 types of social capital: bridging social capital and bonding social capital. The meta-analyses included data from 58 articles gathered through scholarly databases and a hand search of the early publications of relevant journals. Using a random effects model, the overall effect size of the relationship between SNS use and bridging social capital based on k = 50 studies and N = 22,290 participants was r = .32 (95% CI [.27, .37]), and the overall effect size between SNS use and bonding social capital based on k = 43 studies and N = 19,439 participants was r = .26 (95% CI [.22, .31]). The relationships between SNS use and both types of social capital were stronger in men than in women, and the relationship between SNS use and bridging capital was stronger in Western, individualistic countries than Eastern, collectivistic countries. Additional analyses of specific SNS activities indicated that SNS use promotes social capital by facilitating contact and interaction among people who already know each other offline rather than contact with people who were met online. The implication is that SNSs offer a platform to strengthen existing relationships.

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