Facebook and Social Media as Online Conflict Resolution Platforms

Introduction: Community, Social Capital, and Social Networks

Humans are social animals who typically dwell together in communities based on their beliefs, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions that may be present and common, affecting the identity of participants and their degree of cohesiveness.

In sociology, the word community is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household. The word can also refer to the national community or global community. Since the advent of the Internet, however, the concept of community no longer has geographical limitations, as people can now virtually gather in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location.

In other words, community indicates a group of people with a common identity other than location, whose members often interact regularly. This is the case in a virtual community. A virtual community is a group of people primarily communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically over the Internet, rather than in person. These may be communities of interest, practice, or communion. Membership usually involves users signing up to join a community page or network on the internet. Examples include:

A business community is often an administrative community with possibilities to add CVs and other business-related information. An interest community is based on specialized areas such as art, golf, or bird watching. A general community is wider in its range, allowing users to create areas, pages, and groups.

Where community exists, it is desirable for freedom, trust, and security to exist as well. The result is that the community takes on a life of its own, as people become free enough to share and secure enough to get along. The sense of connectedness and the formation of social networks comprise what has become known as social capital.

Social capital is defined by Robert D. Putnam (2000) as "the collective value of all social networks (who people know) and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other (norms of reciprocity)." Social capital in action can be seen in all sorts of groups, including neighbors keeping an eye on each other's homes.

Social Capital Theory gained importance through the integration of classical sociological theory with the description of an intangible form of capital. In this way the classical definition of capital was expanded, allowing researchers to tackle issues in a new manner (Ferragina, 2010). Table 1 below summarizes the key theoretical traditions:

Table 1. Theories of Capital

The classical tradition (Marx) analyzed social relations in terms of exploitation by the capitalist bourgeoisie of the proletariat and the accumulation of surplus value by laborers. Neo-capital theories extended this framework: Human Capital (Schulz, Becker) focused on investment in technical skills and knowledge; Cultural Capital (Bourdieu) addressed the reproduction of dominant symbols and meanings; and Social Capital (Lin, Burt, Marsden, Flap, Coleman, Bourdieu, Putnam) emphasized access to and use of resources embedded in social networks, as well as solidarity and the reproduction of group identity. These theories differ in their level of analysis — from structural class-level analysis to individual- and group-level perspectives.

Through the social capital concept, researchers have tried to propose a synthesis between the value contained in communitarian approaches and the individualism professed by rational choice theory. Social capital can only be generated collectively through the presence of communities and social networks, yet individuals and groups can use it simultaneously (Ferragina, 2010).

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2010) define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content." Social media can take many different forms, including internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating systems, and social bookmarking. According to Kaplan and Haenlein, there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects, blogs and microblogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual communities.

The rapid growth of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace suggests that individuals are creating a virtual network consisting of both bonding and bridging social capital. Unlike face-to-face interaction, people can instantly connect with others in a targeted fashion by applying specific parameters to their internet use. This means that individuals can selectively connect with others based on shared interests and backgrounds. Facebook is currently the most popular social networking site and offers many advantages to its users, including serving as a "social lubricant" for individuals who otherwise have difficulties forming and maintaining both strong and weak ties with others. The consensus of research shows that the more time people spend online, the more in-person contact they tend to have, thus positively enhancing social capital.