We conducted a series of studies in order to develop a tool to assess social media capital, that is, more specifically, individual confidence in the use of social media sites and in their application to maintain and increase social capital. In our first study, we created the social media capital (SMC) scale by adapting parts of two already existing instruments and administered it to 6935 people to test its psychometric properties and dimensionality. After having validated the SMC in its final 7-item form, we proceeded to assess its external validity in two subsequent studies, by testing it against measures for Internet self-efficacy (study 2;
n
=
3100
) and motives to use the Internet and social media addiction (study 3;
n
=
244
). Overall, the SMC displayed satisfactory psychometric properties and appears to be a sound measure of social media capital.
No psychological tools have yet been developed to assess the locus of control that people experience when in the Internet environment. In a first study, we developed the Internet Locus of Control (I-LOC) Scale and validated it through a sample of 743 participants. The I-LOC consisted of 18 items revolving around two dimensions, Internal and External I-LOC, and proved to have satisfactory psychometric properties. A second study was conducted on a 219-people sample to externally validate the I-LOC Scale through two Internet-related constructs assessing online self-efficacy, comparing its sensitivity to that of the Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale (LCS). The I-LOC Scale was significantly correlated with both the measures of Internet-related self-efficacy, while the LCS correlations with Internet Self-efficacy Scale (ISS) and Social Network Confidence Scale (SNC) were weaker or non-existent. Thus, I-LOC can be considered as characterized by a higher specificity for the online context with respect to LCS.
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