Abstract
Purpose: To understand how online social networks promote social capital development of college students. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative and ethnographic, studied during an academic semester (5 months) the case of a group of 21 university students of Information Technology Management from a private school in Mexico. Was used participant observation, through Facebook, and the interview as data collection tools. Findings and Originality/value: Online social networks have the potential to encourage social capital development, because they promote, in different proportions, the relational dimensions of social capital: confidence, identification, sharing standards and the acquisition of expectations and obligations. The three main features that have online social networks to promote the development of social capital are: the possibility of sharing information resources, the ability to communicate both publicly and privately and the possibility of increasing the contacts network. Research limitations/implications: A) the activities carried out privately was not observed. B) Although there are many online social networks, only was analyzed the behavior of participants through Facebook. C) The profile of the participants of the community under study is quite homogeneous. Therefore, when interpreting the results, the level of generalization is reduced to communities with similar characteristics. Originality/value: Previous research has shown that online social networks can promote social capital development in college students. However, this paper identifies the specific characteristics of online social networks, and behaviors of college students, that allow such development.
Highlights
Previous research has shown that online social networks can promote social capital development in college students
This paper identifies the specific characteristics of online social networks, and behaviors of college students, that allow such development
Para dar respuesta a esta pregunta primero se presentan los tipos de enlaces que suelen tener los participantes en cualquier red social, ya que aquellos que participan en las redes sociales en línea no son la excepción
Summary
Las redes sociales son el elemento central del conectivismo. El conectivismo es una teoría que ha emergido para describir las características del aprendizaje contemporáneo, un aprendizaje social, interconectado y basado en comunidades (McLoughlin & Lee, 2008). Esto parece que está sucediendo con las redes sociales en línea, donde herramientas como Facebook cuenta con millones de usuarios en todo el planeta (Facebook, s.f.), y sigue creciendo día a día. Estos sitios se pueden orientar hacia contextos relacionados con el trabajo (por ejemplo LinkedIn.com), para iniciar relaciones románticas o de amistad (por ejemplo friendster.com), para conectar aquellas personas que tienen intereses comunes (por ejemplo myspace.com) o para reunir a una población de estudiantes (por ejemplo Facebook.com)
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