Sotsiaalse kapitali kogumine sotsiaalsete võrgustike veebikeskkondades
Kuupäev
2010
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Tartu Ülikool
Abstrakt
Kirjeldus
The aim of the present MA thesis: “The accumulation of social capital in social
networking sites” is to analyze why users of social networking sites (SNS) use these
websites, how they present themselves in these environments and how important is the
role of social capital they collect in social networking sites to their lives. Also the present
study explores how people use self-presentation to increase social capital and also how
they present themselves throughout the network of connections. The keywords of this
thesis are: social capital, social networking sites, the construction of virtual identity,
textual and visual self-presentation, public displays of connections.
The empirical analysis of the thesis is based on 16 in-depth oral interviews with active
users of social networking sites in age groups 18-22 and 28-32. Qualitative research
methods were used in the analysis of interview transcripts.
The results of this study showed that main reasons and purposes for using SNS were
communication, gathering information, entertainment and creativity and self-expression
opportunities. The main activities were observing what other users were doing on the site
other activities were related to active content creation.
Users construct their virtual identity through textual and visual self-presentation. The
most important opportunity to present oneself in textual way is to fill in the profile. All
users added contact information into their profiles. Also they had written personal and
professional information into their user profile and some information about their hobbies.
Actually hobbies and interests were presented through memberships in the communities
or fan pages. Users also make use of additional textual self-presentation opportunities
like commenting and posting messages on the wall. Visual self-presentation was
considered more important than textual self-presentation because photos were viwed as
important tools for impression management. Photos in SNS usually portrayed the owner
of the account, his/her friends or family, important event, varios active actions or photos
made while travelling.
The results of this study showed that more or less the network of connections plays role
in users´ lives. Users find that the biggest value of social networking sites were
maintaining connections and facilitating communication. The average numbers of
connections in networks were between 150 - 500. Mostly the network of the interviewee
consist of existing or former schoolmates, classmates, fellows form university,
colleagues, friends, members of family, acquaintances and relatives. Interviews shows
that some users communicate most often in social network sites people they do not see
often but some users communicate in these sites with same persons they communicate
most often in their offline life.
Findings shows that SNS use was associated with formation and maintenance of bridging
and maintained social capital. Users have got various sort of benefit using SNS, for
example information about persons, events and specific topics, some of the users have
even find a job. Important benefit using SNS was finding old friends and lost
connections. Analyze shows that to some degree users use self-presentation to increase
their social capital and also they present themselves through their network of
connections.
Märksõnad
magistritööd, sotsiaalne kapital, sotsiaalsed võrgustikud, Internet, identiteet, kogukonnad, Eesti