Sotsiaalse kapitali kogumine sotsiaalsete võrgustike veebikeskkondades

Date

2010

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Description

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.

Keywords

magistritööd, sotsiaalne kapital, sotsiaalsed võrgustikud, Internet, identiteet, kogukonnad, Eesti

Citation