Can We Derive Socioeconomic Benefits from Social Network Sites

Abstract

Previous studies have estimated the relationship between social network site (SNS) usage and social capital using Williams’s Internet Social Capital Scales (ISCS). These studies have found that SNS usage is positively associated with social capital. However, ISCS mainly focuses on emotional support, such as helping solve personal problems and making users try new things. Because social capital can also promote socioeconomic support, which can be obtained through SNS usage, the relationship between SNS usage and socioeconomic social capital should be elucidated. In this study, Lin’s definition was utilized to measure the socioeconomic social capital via a position generator. Additionally, previous studies have only used general regression to estimate the association between SNS usage and social capital. However, this could involve crucial problems in estimating. To avoid these problems, propensity score matching was used to estimate the “net effects” of SNS usage on socioeconomic social capital. A dataset (N = 2,255) collected nationwide in the United States was utilized in the analyses. The results suggest that SNSs negatively affect users’ socioeconomic social capital, which means that SNS usage may decrease users’ socioeconomic support and lead to disadvantageous socioeconomic positions. In other words, we may not benefit from SNS usage.