The social support networks of internet users

Abstract

The available research indicates mixed results regarding the internet’s role in social relations. The article contributes to this research by studying the provision of support in egocentred social networks. Data regarding size, structure and communication channels were assessed through two specially designed surveys. The results show that the internet has a relatively limited impact on social relationships. Internet users have slightly larger social networks only in certain socially de-privileged segments (e.g. divorced, less educated). However, they reveal some specifics with respect to the structure of networks (more friends and less kin, weaker ties) and communication channels (typically the internet is used as a complement). The article also illustrates certain serious problems when drawing a causal inference from non-experimental data.

Correlates of Consumer Trust in Online Health Information: Findings From the Health Information National Trends Survey

“…Hence, a social networking Web site usually encompasses a group of people with diverse backgrounds and interests so that ties among members may be weak, which is less conducive to trust. Although Internet users tend to have larger and richer social relationships, the virtual bonds are not sufficiently strong, substantial, or sustaining (for a review, see Hlebec, Lozar, & Vehovar, 2006). Donath and Boyd (2004) observed that participation in social networking Web sites often nurtured the formation and maintenance of weak ties among users and promoted bridging social capital (i.e., the social relationship among heterogeneous groups of people; Ellison et al, 2007) rather than bonding social capital (i.e., the networks among homogeneous groups of people wherein close and strong network ties exist; Gittell & Vidal, 1998;Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris, 2009).…”

Check the phone book: Testing information and communication technology (ICT) recall aids for personal network surveys

“…In addition, some recent studies (Matzat and Snijders, 2010;Vehovar et al, 2008) have discovered that, not only were respondents likely engaged in satisficing behaviors Krosnick, 1991) when answering to the name generator procedure, but they were much more likely to provide inferior quality data or drop out in a self-administered Web survey than other survey modes in the presence of interviewers. Thus far, although a few techniques for delimiting comprehensive personal networks (e.g., Bidart and Charbonneau, 2011;Brewer and Garrett, 2001;Hlebec et al, 2006;Marin, 2004) and reducing the respondent burden (Marin and Hampton, 2007;McCarty et al, 2007) have been proposed, there is little work addressing the use of memory aids (e.g., Glasner and van der Vaart, 2009) that improve the recall accuracy for personal network data collection.…”

Mídias sociais e adolescentes: uma análise das consequências ambivalentes e das estratégias de consumo

“…Alguns pesquisadores também argumentam que os relacionamentos desenvolvidos online são mais fracos e superficiais do que os off-line (Hlebec et al, 2006;Sisman et al, 2013). Nesse sentido, essa redução de qualidade dos relacionamentos online deveria ser mais séria especialmente para os jovens, que usam a Internet mais intensivamente (Milani et al, 2009).…”

“…A imagem de um adolescente hiperconectado e resultados apontando consequências ora positivas, ora negativas das consequências do consumo de mídias sociais são bastante comuns (Bjarnason et al, 2011;Hlebec et al, 2006;Hundley e Shyles, 2010;Milani et al, 2009). Esses resultados discordantes podem advir, pelo menos em parte, de uma perspectiva exclusivamente adulta e frequentemente paternalística de diversos estudos de consumo, que encaram adolescentes como meras pessoas em desenvolvimento e como sujeitos passivos frente ao consumismo e às estratégias de marketing das companhias (Gregory-Thomas, 2007;Quart, 2003;Schor, 2004).…”