2018/05/14 by Mariek Vanden Abeele, Mariek M. P. Vanden Abeele, Marjolijn L. Antheunis +15
Social Sciences · #Impact of Technology on Adolescents #Social Capital and Networks #Social Media and Politics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/10510974.2018.1464937
openalex publication_date 2018/05/14 · openalex created_date 2018/06/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In 2007 Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe published an article on the positive association between Facebook use and social capital that started a decade of research on the social outcomes of social network site use. Although cited almost 9,000 times, it received critique on the conceptualization and operationalization of Facebook use and social capital. In this study we replicate Ellison et al.’s study with original and alternative measures of social capital and Facebook use, thereby shedding light on the robustness, stability, and ecological validity of the original findings. We found that Facebook intensity positively predicts the original social capital measures, lending support to the validity of the original findings. Its relationship with structural measures, however, was weak for bridging and absent for bonding social capital.