Social Connectivity in America: Changes in Adult Friendship Network Size From 2002 to 2007

2010/03/17 by Hua Wang, Barry Wellman · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Impact of Technology on Adolescents #Social Media and Politics #Social Capital and Networks

paper · doi:10.1177/0002764209356247

openalex publication_date 2010/03/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

There is some panic in the United States about a possible decline in social connectivity. The authors used two American national surveys to analyze how changes in the number of friends are related to changes in Internet use. The authors found that friendships continue to be abundant among adult Americans between the ages of 25 to 74 and that they grew from 2002 to 2007. This trend is similar among Internet nonusers, light users, moderate users, and heavy users and across communication contexts: offline, virtual only, and migratory from online to offline. Heavy users are particularly active, having the most friends both online and offline. Intracohort change consistently outweighs cohort replacement in explaining overall growth in friendship.

Citations

• Small Town in the Internet Society: Chapleau Is No Longer an Island
• The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?
• Social Implications of the Internet
• The Internet and Social Life
• Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired Suburb

Cited by

• NET AND JET
• Are older adults networked individuals? Insights from East Yorkers’ network structure, relational autonomy, and digital media use
• Barry Wellman [wikipedia]