Social Capital

The article I read was 

Steinfield, C., Ellison, N., Lampe, C. & Vitak, J. (2012). Online social network sites and the concept of social capital. Frontiers in New Media Research, New York: Routledge, pp.115-131. Retrieved fromhttps://www.msu.edu/~steinfie/Steinfield_Internetat40.pdf

As far as making connections with others online I think it has increased for me in the past couple of years. Others have exposed me to educational topics or articles relating to my job or current events going on in the world. I feel like I am more of a gainer than a sharer. I tend to not share much because I don't really think about it. I enjoy reading articles that people post but I don't ever have the desire to go out research articles to share. I guess I just feel like if people want to know something then they will research it themselves. Sometimes I share what others have shared because I thought it was a good read or pertaining to something I am working on at work or in school. In the article one of the points it made was that those who posted often engaged in direct communication with friends had a higher bonding social capital. Since I don't post much I think my social capital is not as large as it could be. For what ever reason I try not to get too involved online because I don't want it to take over my life. I like to separate myself from it during the day so that I'm not looking at social media all day long. This is always my battle because it's my source of current events and information but I also don't want to be rude to people when I am socializing. 

Another point made in the article was that the key to bridging and bonding social capital is actually personal information disclosures on social networks. By sharing about yourself as much as possible it helps facilitate the start of relationships, development, and maintenance that keeps the social capital going strong. This made a lot of sense to me because when people know more about who you are, it brings their guard down. I'm torn with this idea because as much as I want to be open to people I feel like it makes me so vulnerable on the internet and I always have "identity theft" in the back of my head. I guess eventually I will have to get passed that if I want to continue using social media to it's highest potential.