The Impact of Facebook Use on Micro-Level Social Capital: A Synthesis
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Background
2.1. Getting Social on the Internet
2.2. Social Capital
2.3. Facebook and Social Capital: Bridging, Bonding, and Maintained Social Capital
2.4. Types of Interactions on Facebook and Social Capital
2.5. Self-Esteem, Facebook Use, and Social Capital
3. Literature Search and Procedures
4. Results
4.1. General Facebook Use and Social Capital
4.2. Types of Interactions on Facebook and Social Capital
4.3. Self-Esteem, Facebook Use, and Social Capital
Authors | Ref. | Sample | Country | Method | IV/Moderator/CV | DV | Main Results |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) | [28] | N = 286 students Mage = 20.1 | USA | Survey | FB Intensity Life | BRISC | FB Intensity has a positive relation with BRISC/BOSC/MASC. This relationship is stronger for people with low SE and less life-satisfaction. |
Self-esteem | BOSC | ||||||
satisfaction | MASC | ||||||
Steinfield, Ellison, and Lampe (2008) | [25] | N = 92 students Mage = 21.0 | USA | Longitudinal survey (2 waves) | FB Intensity Self-esteem Life satisfaction | BRISC | FB intensity positively affects BRISC. |
This effect is stronger for people with low SE and less life-satisfaction. | |||||||
Burke, Marlow, and Lento (2010) | [42] | N = 1193 adults Mage = 33.7 | World | Survey + server logs of FB activity | FB Intensity Directed comm. Consumption Self-esteem Life satisfaction | BRISC | Directed comm. positively predicts BRISC; it does not predict BOSC. |
BOSC | Consumption negatively predicts BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Loneliness | SE predicts BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Burke, Kraut, and Malow (2011) | [30] | N = 415 adults Mage = 33.7 | USA | Longitudinal survey (2 waves) | Time spent on FB Number of friends Directed comm. Consumption Broadcasting Self-esteem | BRISC | Time spent on FB positively affects BRISC. Directed comm. positively affects BRISC. No effects of consumption and broadcasting on BRISC and BOSC. People with low SE experience a stronger effect of directed comm. on BRISC. |
BOSC | |||||||
Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2011) | [48] | N = 450 students Mage = 20.4 | USA | Survey | FB use | BRISC BOSC | Info-seeking only connection strategy that (positively) predicts |
Number of FB friends + actual friends | BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Self-esteem | Number of actual friends positively predicts BRISC. | ||||||
Connection strategies: initiating, info-seeking, and maintaining | SE positively predicts BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Papacharissi and Mendelson (2011) | [49] | N = 344 students Age range: 18–25 | USA | Survey | FB use (time spent + number of friends) Motives for FB use Unwillingness to communicate | BRISC BOSC MASC Affinity with FB | No relation between FB use and BRISC, BOSC, and MASC. |
Motives “expressive info sharing” and “relaxing entertainment” correlated highly with BRISC, BOSC, and MASC. | |||||||
Vitak, Ellison, and Steinfield (2011) | [47] | N = 325 students Mage = 20.7 | USA | Survey | FB intensity FB disclosures FB reciprocity Self-esteem | BRISC | FB intensity is positively related to BRISC. |
BOSC | No relation between FB intensity and BOSC. | ||||||
Social provision | SE predicts localized BOSC. | ||||||
Yoder and Stutzman (2011) | [31] | N = 557 students Mage = 19.9 | USA | Survey | Public comm. on FB (status updates + wall posts) | BRISC | Public directed comm. predicts BRISC. |
Private comm. on FB (chat + direct messaging) | |||||||
Brandtzaeg (2012) | [45] | N = 391 adults Age range: 15–75 | Norway | Longitudinal survey (3 waves) | Users versus non-users | BRISC | Positive effect of SNS usage on BRISC. |
User type Informal sociability | Loneliness | SNS users report more BRISC than non-users. | |||||
Stutzman, Vitak, Ellison, Gray, and Lampe (2012) | [50] | N = 230 students Mage = 21.2 | USA | Survey | FB use: time spent + number of friends + actual friends Signals of relational investment (directed comm.) FB disclosures (broadcasting) Self-esteem | BRISC | Broadcasting is positively related to BRISC and BOSC. Directed comm. is positively related to BRISC and BOSC. There is a positive relation between SE and BRISC/BOSC. |
BOSC | |||||||
Vitak (2012) | [55] | N = 364 students + PhD’s Mage = 30.0 | USA | Survey | Amount of FB disclosures (broadcasting) | BRISC | Amount of disclosures (broadcasting) is positively related to BRISC. |
Intended disclosure | Intended disclosure is positively related to BRISC. | ||||||
Johnston, Tanner Lalla, and Kawalski (2013) | [43] | N = 572 students Mage = 20.6 | South-Africa | Survey | FB Intensity | BRISC | FB intensity is positively related to BRISC, BOSC, and MASC. SE does not moderate these relations. |
Self-esteem | BOSC | ||||||
Life satisfaction | MASC | ||||||
Lampe, Vitak, and Ellison (2013) | [46] | N = 614 adults Mage = 45.0 | USA | Survey | Users versus non-users FB usefulness Time spent on FB Number of friends + actual friends Signals of relational investment (directed comm.) Self-esteem | BRISC | Heavy users report higher BRISC compared to non-users or light users. Heavy users and non-users report higher BOSC compared to light users. FB usefulness is positively related to BRISC and BOSC. SE is positively related to BRISC and BOSC. |
BOSC | |||||||
Lee, Kim, and Ahn (2014) | [44] | N = 256 Mage = 20.9 | South-Korea | Survey | FB intensity | BRISC BOSC | FB intensity is positively related to BRISC and BOSC. |
Number of FB feature use | Use of wall (broadcasting) is positively related to BRISC. | ||||||
Frequency of FB feature use | Use of likes (directed comm.) is positively related to BOSC. | ||||||
Preference of FB feature use | Use of comments (directed comm.) is negatively related to BOSC. | ||||||
Brooks, Hogan, Ellison, Lampe, and Vitak (2014) | [52] | N = 238 adults Mage = 45.0 | USA | Survey + actual FB behavior | FB use: Time spent + number of friends + actual friends | BRISC BOSC | Number of friends and visits on FB are not related to BRISC and BOSC. |
FRMB | Info-seeking behavior predicts BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Info-seeking behavior | FRMB (directed comm.) predicts BRISC and BOSC. | ||||||
Self esteem | There is a positive relation between SE and BOSC. | ||||||
Ellison, Vitak, Gray, and Lampe (2014) | [51] | N = 614 adults Mage = 45.0 | USA | Survey | FB use: Time spent + number of friends + actual friends FRMB Self-esteem | BRISC (general and FB specific) | FRMB is positively related to both forms of BRISC. |
Actual FB friends is positively related to both forms of BRISC. | |||||||
Number of friends is positively related to general BRISC. | |||||||
SE is positively related to both forms of BRISC. | |||||||
Lampe, Gray, Fiore, and Ellison (2014) | [53] | N = 3877 status updates | World-English status updates | Content analysis | Mobilization requests | Responses on mobilization requests | Posts that attempt to mobilize help receive more response (social capital) than non-mobilization attempts. |
Mobilization subtypes | |||||||
User characteristics (e.g., visitation frequency) | |||||||
Post characteristics |
4.4. Theoretical, Analytical and Methodological Issues
4.4.1. Theoretical Issues
4.4.2. Analytical Issues
4.4.3. Methodological Issues
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Antheunis, M.L.; Vanden Abeele, M.M.P.; Kanters, S. The Impact of Facebook Use on Micro-Level Social Capital: A Synthesis. Societies 2015, 5, 399-419. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc5020399
Antheunis ML, Vanden Abeele MMP, Kanters S. The Impact of Facebook Use on Micro-Level Social Capital: A Synthesis. Societies. 2015; 5(2):399-419. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc5020399
Chicago/Turabian StyleAntheunis, Marjolijn L., Mariek M. P. Vanden Abeele, and Saskia Kanters. 2015. "The Impact of Facebook Use on Micro-Level Social Capital: A Synthesis" Societies 5, no. 2: 399-419. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc5020399