Social Networks As Tools To Maintain Social Capital

Memo 1: Facebook, Linkedin, and
Twitter as tools to maintain and
create social capital

Pedro D.C.
Stockholm University 2012

Pedro D.C.
Stockholm University 2012

Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as tools to maintain and create social capital
In my paper, I will fundamentally address to the chapter number 5 from the book Networks
and Organizations, which deals with Serendipitous andGoal-directed networking.
I will face this writing from my personal point of view about this phenomenon, based on the
experiences I have acquired through a variety of events that have happened in my life and are
accountant for the networks I belong to.
In this paper, I will reflect relevant aspects about networking and the usage of social media
from the perspective of students involved ininternational environments. In these milieus,
students can potentially get to know and connect with new people which may become a very
useful tie later in life. In other words, they can develop both strong and weak ties and use them
in order to bridge structural holes.
Taking part into the exchange program Erasmus and spending term breaks working in other
cities in Spain or abroad account formost of the friends I have in Facebook presently.
Approximately some 15% (149) of the 995 contacts I have in this social network come from my
hometown or my region. This could be then considered my egocentric network, the one that I
was born into.
The potential of this network as a resource of influences depends on the social circles that we
have been brought into since early in life, “Forindividuals born into social circles of privilege
and status, serendipitous networking among people they encounter socially can provide the
contacts that help entry into exclusive schools, clubs and jobs” (Kilduff and Tsay, 2008,105).
The rest of acquisitions in my network are the result of me cultivating serendipitous
networking. Serendipitous networking implies that individuals can increase thenumber of
connections “haphazardly from the interactions of individual actors.” (Kilduff an d Tsay,
2008,90).
For example during the term breaks at university (Summer, Halloween, Christmans and
Easter) I went to work to Disneyland Paris. After finishing each one of the contracts with this
company a big input of new contacts were added to my networks.
The same situation happened after takingpart into the Erasmus exchange program and it will
happen again after finishing this master program.
Even if I one could only consider good friends few of these persons, the fact of having
shared such an experience with all the others, has created a bond between all the individuals
deeper than simple acquaintances. Here is when Social networks, and specially Facebook,
become very useful.Managing and maintaining all this social capital -relationship with friends and also with
acquaintances- can turn very inconvenient, time-consuming or just impossible when it becomes
too numerous and probably many connections would get lost after a certain time out of touch.

Pedro D.C.
Stockholm University 2012

What social media have made for us, is creating a task board that allows us toeasily save all
our social capital. In addition to that it offers users the possibility of learning very personal
information about others, as well as interacting with them in their everyday life, thereby also
fostering deeper relationships such as friendships.
This two-sided use of social networks has been reflected by other authors.
Social networks can either help bridging weak-ties acrossdiverse social groups
(acquaintances) (Putnam’s, 2000), or bonding strong-tie social capital across homogenous
groups (closer acquaintances or friendships) (Williams, 2006), depending on the uses and
outcomes that users expect from them.
With the years people develop professional careers and due to this they find new common
interests with the contacts in their networks. At this point Facebook...