Relationship Between Facebook Usage and Social Capital

Relationship Between Facebook Usage and Social Capital1. IntroductionThe conception of this inquiry is to investigate the recent phenomenon known as kindly webs, and in ill-tempered the genial meshings associated with the World Wide Web and their concussion on the mixer welf atomic number 18 (also known as affectionate capital) of tribe. This motion is of particular interest to the searcher be motive of the increasing importance and span of the online affectionate communicate sites. Thus understanding how they trespass society in ecumenic. The scope of the look into impart be The Facebook the biggest at this time online kind network. The reason for the topic is the increase of the website in our lives and the many disputations whether it has positive or negative strike on its engagementrs. Therefore adequate research regarding key concepts and confederacys between The Facebook and complaisant capital would benefit any wizard who is interested in online cor dial networks and their influence all over societies. Before continuing with the research it is important to introduce key concepts and definitions which is to prep ar easier for the reader to understand the matters at hand.1.1 Key DefinitionsAsocial networkis asocial structuremade up of individuals (or organizations) called nodes, which are tied (connected) by virtuoso or to a greater extent specific types ofinterdependency, such(prenominal) asfriendship,kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike,sexual human kins, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge orprestige. As in al almost everything in present days, the internet influences the social networks. A good example of that is the created in 2004 online social networkThe Facebook. By 2007 it was account to shit more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views all(prenominal) day (Needham Company, 2007). The site is mostly incorporated into the everyday media practices of its users O rdinary users guide about 20 minutes a day on the site, and two-thirds of users record in at least once a day (Cassidy, 2006 Needham Company, 2007).1.2 Aims and ObjectivesThe signal of this research is to examine the relationship between the use of Facebook, and the development and saving of social capital both bonding and bridging.Its objective is to determine whether online social networks and in particular The sheathbook have positive or negative impact on societies.1.3 Key Research QuestionsIs Facebook positively connected with individuals who dig bridging social capital?Will Facebook intensity be positively associated with people who perceive bonding social capital?Is Facebook helping people with strikingness to face communication difficulties?Facebook Survey Pie ChartThe remainder of the research is organized as follows Section 2 reviews conceptual development and theories of the research questions. Section 3 reviews the research methods and how they address the ques tions and how the entropy give be collected. Section 4 shows the research plan vie diagram, displaying the unlike activities involved in producing the existent work and how they will happen in time. Section 5 concludes the research proposal by highlighting the importance of the research questions and their connection with the different theories. Section 6 is the bibliography and reference used for the research.2. Literature come off antecedent research suggests that Facebook users engage in searching for people with whom they have an offline connection more than they browse for complete st gors to meet (Lampe, Ellison, Steinfield, 2006). oft of the early research on online communities supposed that individuals using these systems would be linking with others outside their pre- animate social group or location, liberating them to comprise communities around mutual interests, as hostile to shared geography (Garton, Guila Haythornthaite, Dimitrova, Salaff, Wellman 1996). A be nchmark of this early research is the premise that when online and offline social networks overlapped, the directionality wasonline to offlineonline connections resulted in face-to-face meetings. For example Parks and Floyd (1996) report, that deuce-ace of their respondents later met their online correspondents offline. As they mark, These findings imply that relationships that begin online rarely stay there.Much of the existing academic research on Facebook has focused on individuation presentation and concealment (e.g., Gross Acquisti, 2005 Stutzman, 2006). Looking at the amount of info Facebook users present about themselves, the fairly open nature of the information, and the lack of privacy controls enacted by the users, Gross and Acquisti (2005) argue that users whitethorn be putting themselves at exposure both offline (e.g., stalking) and online (e.g., identify theft). Other recent Facebook study examines disciple perceptions of instructor presence and self-disclosure ( Hewitt Forte, 2006 Mazer, Murphy, Simonds, 2007), sequential patterns of use (Golder, Wilkinson, Huberman, 2007), and the relationship between indite structure and friendship communication (Lampe, Ellison, Steinfield, 2007).Putnam (2000) distinguishes between bridging and bonding social capital. The origin is linked to what network researchers refer to as weak ties, which are loosen up connections between persons who may brook useful information or impertinently perspectives for wholeness another but on average not steamy support (Granovetter, 1982). On the other hand, bonding social capital is implant between individuals in tightly-knit, emotionally close relationships, such as family and close friends.Social capital generally refers to the assets accumulated through the relationships between people (Coleman, 1988). Social capital is a flexible term with a range of definitions in numerous fields (Adler Kwon, 2002), conceived of as both a cause and an effect (Resnick, 2 001 Williams, 2006). Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) define social capital as the sum of the resources, veridical or virtual(prenominal), that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or slight institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition (p. 14). The assets from these relationships can fluctuate in form and function found on the relationships themselves.Social capital has been related to to a diversity of positive social outcomes, such as give public health, lower crime rates, and more resourceful financial markets (Adler Kwon, 2002). match to numerous instruments of social capital, this important resource has been deteriorating in the U.S. for the past some(prenominal) years (Putnam, 2000). When social capital declines, a community experiences augmented social disorder, reduced involvement in public activities, and potentially more suspect among society members. Greater social capital increases commitment to a community and the ability to organize collective actions, among other benefits. Social capital may also be used for harmful purposes, but in general it is seen as a positive effect of interaction among participants in a social network (Helliwell Putnam, 2004).The net has been linked both to increases and decreases in social capital. Nie (2001), for instance, argued that Internet use detracts from face-to-face time with others, which might weaken an individuals social capital. However, this viewpoint has received strong criticism (Bargh McKenna, 2004). Furthermore, a number of researchers have claimed that online connections may add to or replace in-person interactions, mitigating any t bingle ending from time spent online (Wellman, Haase, Witte, Hampton, 2001). In fact, studies of physical (e.g., geographical) communities supported by online networks, such as the Blacksburg Electronic Village, have found out that computer-mediated interactions have had positive effects on community relations, involvement, and social capital (Hampton Wellman, 2003 Kavanaugh, Carroll, Rosson, Zin, Reese, 2005).Lately, researchers have evince the significance of Online-based linkages for the formation of weak ties, which provide the foundations of bridging social capital. Donath and boyd (2004) theorize that SNSs (Social web Services) could to a great extent add to the weak ties one could form and maintain, because the technology is well-suited to maintaining such ties inexpensively and effortlessly.Based on the earlier work, one could suggest the following assumptionConcentration of Facebook use should be positively connected with individuals perceived bridging social capital. It is obvious that the Internet facilitates new connections, in that it provides people with another way to connect with others who share their interests or relationship goals (Ellison, Heino, Gibbs, 2006 Horrigan, 2002 Parks Floyd, 1996). These new connections may cause an increase in soc ial capital for example, a 2006 Pew Internet study analysed that online users are more likely to have a larger network of close ties than non-Internet users, and that Internet users are more likely than non-users to obtain help from core network members (Boase, Horrigan, Wellman, Rainie, 2006). Williams (2006) argues that even though researchers have examined possible downfalls of social capital in offline communities due to greater Internet use, they have not effectively explored online gains that could treat for this. For that reason it could be proposed a second assumption on the relationship between Facebook use and close tiesConcentration of Facebook use should be positively related with individuals perceived bonding social capital.3. MethodologyThe ontology of this research is such as although Facebook is virtual and without material component, one can view and key out it as a real object, because it can be used, felt and its introduction proved. Second is the epistemolog y, for which the objective perspective is used, because Facebook is seen as separate entity from the individual user. The surround is constant, thus the result is that the individuals profile is what changes according to the virtual surrounding. This perspective makes it easier for marketers to analyse the user behaviour and give firms the opportunity to expeditiously advertise and sell their products for maximizing profits. To provide evidence that the research findings are indeed correct, the positivist assumption will be used, because it is better and more accurate way of describing the topic, giving exact selective information for the research. An example of defective lower-ranking date is the following pie charthttp//media.brainz.org/uploads/2009/02/facebook.pngFor the purpose of the research a comparison of the terms primary and indirect data is require, so one can see why the author of the research chooses the second. Primary data is collected to be up to date and top ic specific. This in no doubt leads to better and more accurate results. The big downfall of this method is its time consuming nature and the fact it is really expensive. On the other hand Secondary data is identified by Saunders et al (2003) as data previously collected, stored or published. The big plus of alternative data is that it is already published, analysed, structured and is reviewed by other professors and academics, who already evaluated it. There are two types of unessential data identified by Saunders et al (2003). These are qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data is usually analyses and text-like definitions whereas quantitative data is usually related to statistics and numbers. A good source of quantitative secondary data is census, housing, social security as well as electoral statistics and other related databases. It is exactly this type of data, that would be best to use in this research as it is easier, cheaper and less time consuming to obtain , plot of land relatively reliable and least, but not last, by using secondary data it is easier to avoid privacy problems with the people the information was gathered from. As every method, secondary data has its disadvantages, which in this case are that the data may be collected for a different from the researchers aim and thus it can be distorted. The access to some secondary data sources can be costly and difficult. Furthermore it is proved that one has no real control over the quality and reliability of the secondary data at all. (Saunders, M. Et al. 2003) For that reason when collecting the secondary data it is indispensable to measure its validity and whether it meets the researchers needs. There is always preconceived notion in the data, so it is important to find as many sources as possible to minimise the bias. (Saunders, M. Et al. 2003).For this exact research the secondary data will be collected from analysed written surveys, questionnaires, telephone surveys, expres sion focus groups and existing records. Each of those has their own pros and cons in terms of how much qualitative data can be extracted out of them. It is clear that written surveys with determined scales will give more pure numbers and thus make the descriptive statistics analysis easier. On the other hand processing telephone surveys and observation focus groups would be harder and more time consuming. But as express above one need as much data sources as possible to fully analyse and give reliable and non biased perform on a topic as large as the impact of the largest online social network Facebook on its users.4. Research planStep one writing the propositionStep two make a research on the possible resources available and making a list of the most useful sources.Step three Following the proposition methods, mine the needed quantitative data from the resources.Step four Analyse and process the in the altogether quantitative mined data via descriptive statistics analysis and t he qualitative data analysis.Step five Summaries the data found from the previous steps and based on it start writing the actual dissertation.Step six Review the Reference and bibliography carefully and write it.Step seven Give the semi-finished dissertation to the advisor for ideas of improvement.Step eight Improve and polish the dissertation and then(prenominal) wrap it up for submission.http//thomaslarock.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/datamining.jpghttp//www.42u.com/images/data-center-resources.jpghttp//howtowriteathesis.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/writingabook.jpghttp//lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/classic-motoring/Flex3401VRGCarPolisher.jpg-1 -2- -3-http//www.whole-person-counseling.com/Images/bookstack.gifhttp//onetick.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/innovation_1.jpg?w=640http//images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-11-17-2Advisor.GIF-4--5- -6- -7- -8-5. ConclusionWith the data that could be gathered using the models described above, one will have a more in-depth, reliable and useful infor mation about the actual benefits and drawbacks Facebook gives in terms of social and bonding capital. It will be seen whether the theories suggesting Facebook helps people with face communication difficulties are indeed true. In general, conducting this research will provide data that is important for understanding the ever-growing online social networks and how to cultivate them to bring uttermost benefits, not only for interact, but for businesses, education, helping people overcome socializing problems and improving our lives in general.http//www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/521f7_facebook_like_button.jpg