The Shifting Image of Social Capital: Digitizing Cooperative Ties

Abstract

The article examines digital discourse perceived as a rallying impetus for generating shared pro-active attitudes necessary to foster online cooperative action. The emergence of social media as a means of collaborative online communication has informed several distinct research agendas. The author is especially keen on studying the impact of Internet technologies on the creation and accumulation of social capital, comparing its formation and spread in online and offline environments. An equally important task is to identify the role its multiple research methodologies play in highlighting the functional features of various physical and/or virtual communities. A special point of interest for the author is in analyzing the ever-diminishing gap between web-based communication and real-world information exchange. Particular research emphasis is put on establishing the common ground between online and offline social interaction, which leads to the growing number of overlapping study results between the two spheres.