Bridging social capital declines when online affinity groups narrow communication

Evidence

The third obstacle goes by the evocative label of “cyberbalkanization.” The Internet enables us to confine our communication to people who share precisely our interests—not just other BMW owners, but owners of BMW 2002s and perhaps even owners of turbocharged 1973 2002s, regardless of where they live and what other interests they and we have. That powerful specialization is one of the medium’s great attractions, but also one of its subtler threats to bridging social capital. A comment about Thunderbirds in a BMW chat group risks being flamed as “off topic.” Imagine, by contrast, the guffaws if a member of a bowling team or a Sunday school class tried to rule out a casual conversation gambit as off-topic. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 589

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Communication overload and shallow participation mask genuine community uprooting — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 569; Internet communication reflects rather than transcends offline power relations — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 58; Social media’s herd-intensification may impede individual development at population scale — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1488 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Communication overload and shallow participation mask genuine community uprooting #qualifies (0.75) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 569
• Modern social organization produces distance through mediated action and intermediaries #complicates (0.73) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 551
• Internet communication reflects rather than transcends offline power relations #exemplifies (0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 58
• Social media’s herd-intensification may impede individual development at population scale #contradicts (0.72) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1488