Do the socially rich get richer? A nuanced perspective on social network site use and online social capital accrual.
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: = 108,068; age range = 13-68). Eligible studies were those that examined an association between at least one common proxy measure of the socially rich (vs. poor; i.e., extraversion, social anxiety, or loneliness) and a criterion measure (i.e., SNS use or online social capital). The results revealed a complex picture. SNS use was positively correlated with both extraversion and social anxiety, although the social anxiety-SNS use correlation was significant for adult samples rather than adolescent samples. Online social capital was positively correlated with extraversion but inversely correlated with loneliness. Our conclusion is that extraverted individuals use SNS to enhance their opportunities for social interactions and can acquire more online social resources, whereas adults who are socially anxious use SNS to compensate for their social deficits but such effort is unrelated to online social resource accumulation. Individuals who feel lonely tend to obtain few such resources. However, most of the studies examined the leisure use of Facebook. We advocate more thorough testing of our hypotheses in future research on therapeutic SNS use and/or the use of SNS other than Facebook. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Source: Psychological Bulletin
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000198
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: University of Hong Kong
Award: G190806620
OpenAlex ID: W2946754716