Social media has become globally ubiquitous, transforming how people are networked and mobilized. This forum
explores research and applications of these new networked publics at individual, organizational, and societal levels.
— Shelly Farnham, Editor
Insights
→ Social capital describes the benefits
we get from those in our social
networks, such as information
and support.
→ First-generation students may
lack access to college-related
information in their household.
→ Social media may provide a way to
connect adolescents with valuable
sources of information and support.
he would be the first in his immediate
family to graduate from college. He
lives with his mom, who is struggling
with debt and working on an associate’s
degree; his father did not go to college.
The kind of hands-on help many
with college-educated parents might
receive—reminders about personal
essays or how to select a portfolio of
colleges to apply to—is unlikely to be
available to him in his home. When
viewed through the lens of social
capital, Andy’s lack of support around
college-going behaviors is directly
related to the composition of his social
network and the kinds of interactions
he is exposed to.
SOCIAL CAPITAL
AND SOCIAL MEDIA
According to some, we are in the
middle of an era of unprecedented
communication, in which interacting
with different kinds of people should
be as easy as opening a Web browser.
Collectively, social media sites are
hosting millions of conversations on
a daily basis, everything from young
people in a poor Kenyan settlement
looking for work to new moms in New
York City sharing their babies’ first
words. Facebook is one of the largest
social media sites—currently it has
more than 750 million active daily
users—but there are thousands of
other ways for people to connect with
one another online to request help,
information, or social support—or to
just share quotidian experiences, like
watching a pretty sunset.
So, compared with previous
generations, we have more
opportunities to communicate—but
Andy feels he has benefited from talking
to these friends about their lives, and he
considers their diverse experiences as he
tries to make his own plans around life
questions such as whether and when to
go to college. As he told us, “Just talking
to [Xbox] friends and their experiences
in colleges and their experiences with
life kind of gives me more of a look on
what my future has to show…. It’s a
good way to kind of piece everything
together and try to set up a little sort of
an outline on life.”
Andy’s comments were captured
as part of an ongoing research study
that explores the role of social media
and other Internet tools in reshaping
college-access patterns in the U.S.
For Andy, the connection with older
teens and adults through Xbox was
particularly important because he
perceived his friends at school and his
family as representing only a small
portion of the possibilities life could
offer. Knowing people who were
different from his day-to-day network
enabled him to gain information and
insight that he would not otherwise
access.
The concept of benefiting from
social ties is known in the academic
literature as social capital. There are
two types of social capital. Bonding
social capital describes the resources
one often gets through strong ties, such
as emotional support or big favors like a
financial loan. Bridging social capital, on
the other hand, speaks to the resources
one accesses through “bridging”
ties—individuals who interact with,
or connect, two groups of people who
wouldn’t otherwise be connected.
Studies have shown that these weak
connections are more likely to provide
access to new information, people,
and worldviews. For individuals
who face systemic bias and are
disadvantaged by the circumstances
of their position in the larger society,
bridging ties may be especially useful,
as these connections can provide
information and other resources that
their day-to-day circles often lack. As
social capital scholars note, bonding
social capital is important for getting
by, but bridging social capital is critical
for changing one’s life circumstances
and getting ahead.
Like many of the adolescents who
have participated in our research, Andy
is a first-generation student, meaning
Nicole B. Ellison, University of Michigan, D. Yvette Wohn, New Jersey Institute of Technology,
Michael G. Brown, University of Michigan
Social Media and
College Access
INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG 62 INTERACTIONS JULY–AUGUST2014
FORUM SOCIAL MEDIA