Virtual communities and social capital
Social Science Computer Review - Special issue on ISTAS '97: computers and society at a time of sweeping change
Mass media use and social life among Internet users
Social Science Computer Review - Special issue on survey and statistical computing in the new millennium
Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
Judging you by the company you keep: dating on social networking sites
Proceedings of the 2007 international ACM conference on Supporting group work
Computers in Human Behavior
Case studies in research: Is social capital effective for online learning?
Information and Management
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Some of the earliest and best-known theoretical work on the social implications of the Internet focus on interpersonal interactions with other users met online. However, in part because of the difficulty of measuring the level of interactions with others met online, generalizable empirical research on this topic remains limited. In this study, the authors develop a new approach to measuring the degree of online interactions with those not known offline. Next, they test the relationship between these online social interactions and social capital using a probability sample survey of U.S. residents. Contrary to previous empirical investigations, they find that the level of online interaction with people met on the Internet positively relates to common indicators of social capital, such as generalized trust. Finally, they discuss the implications of these results.