Contextualising social capital in online brand communities

Online brand communities (OBC) are growing in number and becoming an increasingly important interface where marketers can effectively facilitate the relationship between their brand and consumers. A qualitative study using a four-month netnography over three OBCs followed by focus groups with OBC members explored the dynamics of social capital in these communities. Findings indicate that social capital is an important driver in the success of OBCs, and all the elements of social capital including a shared language, shared vision, social trust and reciprocity are evident. Moreover, results from this study indicate that these elements are crucial in developing the network ties that are integral to building loyalty and brand equity

Web-network Social Capital: Exploring Network Actions and Benefits for Online News Community Members

This research introduces a new measure of social capital for users of online news communities by applying social capital concepts used to measure networks in real-world communities. “Web-network” social capital measures the strength of ties created online for the benefit of engagement that is non-local. Using the concept of the “networked individual” as a theoretical tool, this research sampled users of news sites that offered online community forums for comment. The results show that traditional social capital measures rooted in local community increase both local forms of engagement and engagement in causes that are more national than local

Consumers in an online brand community: uses and gratifications, social capital, and brand loyalty

With the popularity of online brand communities, consumers interact and build social relations with other consumers to share information about products and services. The purposes of this study were to investigate: (1) what needs bring consumers to participate in and what social resources are generated in an online brand community, (2) the process of how needs to use an online brand community are gratified through achieving social resources in an online brand community, and (3) what outcomes of social interaction in an online brand community influence loyalty toward brands which communities endorsed. A conceptual model was developed combining two theories -- uses and gratification theory and social capital and network theory -- to test causal linkages among consumer needs to participate in an online brand community, social capital accumulations, knowledge sharing, community commitment, and brand loyalty. Data were collected using a web-based survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of 499 respondents were U.S. consumers who had been members or visitors of an apparel, shoes, or accessory online brand community. Confirmatory factor analysis identified five needs to participate in an online brand community -- socialization, entertainment seeking, self-status seeking, information seeking, and convenience seeking -- and three social capital accumulations in the online brand community context -- structural, cognitive, and relational capital. Structural equation modeling indicated that consumers\u27 needs to use an online brand community did not directly influence the outputs of social capital accumulations such as knowledge sharing and community commitment. However, needs influenced social capital accumulation, and these accumulations influenced social capital outcomes (i.e., knowledge sharing, community commitment). Consumers\u27 socialization need in an online brand community positively influenced all dimensions of social capital (structural, cognitive and relational capital). Self-status seeking positively influenced structural capital formation. Information seeking positively influenced cognitive and relational capital. Convenience seeking positively influenced relational capital. Structural capital positively influenced knowledge sharing, and cognitive capital positively influenced community commitment. Relational capital positively influenced both social capital outcomes of knowledge sharing and community commitment. These findings provide an understanding that consumers\u27 needs to use online brand community are gratified by interacting with other consumers through social resources generated within a network of an online brand community. In addition, to obtain more social capital, consumers engaged in social interaction (i.e., knowledge sharing) and felt cohesion toward community. In addition, relational capital and community commitment positively influenced brand loyalty. Thus, this study provides an understanding that emotions and feelings toward relationships within an online brand community are important factors related to attitudinal and behavioral loyalty toward the brand endorsed within the community. The findings have managerial implications for apparel marketers and retailers in operating online brand communities and in understanding what needs consumers have in regard to their participation in an online brand community. Finally, the findings show how interaction and participation in an online brand community satisfies and reinforces consumers\u27 brand loyalty

How Deep Runs the Karma? Structural Holes and Social Capital in an Online Community

Social capital is important as both a mechanism for governing online communities and a product of the interaction in those communities. How networks of relationships in online communities are structured has important implications for how social capital may be generated. We examine a popular website, Slashdot, that uses a system by which users can declare relationships with other users, and also has an embedded reputation system, which they call user Karma. The role between user reputation levels and social network structures may indicate the types of social capital that can form. Using the concept of structural holes, we find that Slashdot users develop broad networks at lower levels of participation, and deep networks at higher levels of reputation

Integrating computerized linguistic and social network analyses to capture addiction recovery capital in an online community

The article describes a new methodology designed with the aim of finding a comprehensive, unobtrusive, and accurate way of capturing social recovery capital development in online communities of recovery from alcohol and drug (AOD) addiction. Recovery capital was conceptualised as both engagement in the online recovery community and identification with the community. To measure recovery capital development, naturally occurring data were extracted from the social media page of a specific recovery program, with the page being set up as a resource for a face-to-face recovery program. To map engagement with the online community, social network analysis (SNA) capturing online social interaction was performed. Social interaction was measured through the linkages between the online contributors/members of the online community as represented by program clients, staff, and supporters from the broader community. To capture markers of social identification with the online community, computerised linguistic analysis of the textual data (content from posts and comments) was conducted. Recovery capital captured in this way was analysed against retention data (a proxy outcome indicator), as days spent in the (face-to-face) recovery program. The online data extracted was linked to participant data in regards to program retention to test prediction of a key recovery outcome. This approach allowed the examination of the role of online support communities and assessment of the association between recovery capital (developed via the online community of recovery) and recovery outcomes

The Interplay between Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Online User Communities

Firms have been increasingly relying on online user communities (OUC) to access external, distant knowledge and expertise. Previous research on OUC has largely investigated the influence of individuals\u27 social capital on their knowledge sharing behavior. In this study, we propose a spiral view on the relationship between social capital and knowledge contribution. We suggest that there are two-way interactions between individuals\u27 social capital and their knowledge contribution in online user communities. To test our proposition, we collected and analyzed participation data of 3,512 users from the OUC of BMC, a global leader in innovative software solutions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study for the online user community literature as well as the broader context of online community

Online social capital : mood, topical and psycholinguistic analysis

Social media provides rich sources of personal information and community interaction which can be linked to aspect of mental health. In this paper we investigate manifest properties of textual messages, including latent topics, psycholinguistic features, and authors\u27 mood, of a large corpus of blog posts, to analyze the aspect of social capital in social media communities. Using data collected from Live Journal, we find that bloggers with lower social capital have fewer positive moods and more negative moods than those with higher social capital. It is also found that people with low social capital have more random mood swings over time than the people with high social capital. Significant differences are found between low and high social capital groups when characterized by a set of latent topics and psycholinguistic features derived from blogposts, suggesting discriminative features, proved to be useful for classification tasks. Good prediction is achieved when classifying among social capital groups using topic and linguistic features, with linguistic features are found to have greater predictive power than latent topics. The significance of our work lies in the importance of online social capital to potential construction of automatic healthcare monitoring systems. We further establish the link between mood and social capital in online communities, suggesting the foundation of new systems to monitor online mental well-being

Exploring the Relationship between Membership Turnover and Productivity in Online Communities

One of the more disruptive reforms associated with the modern Internet is the emergence of online communities working together on knowledge artefacts such as Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap. Recently it has become clear that these initiatives are vulnerable because of problems with membership turnover. This study presents a longitudinal analysis of 891 WikiProjects where we model the impact of member turnover and social capital losses on project productivity. By examining social capital losses we attempt to provide a more nuanced analysis of member turnover. In this context social capital is modelled from a social network perspective where the loss of more central members has more impact. We find that only a small proportion of WikiProjects are in a relatively healthy state with low levels of membership turnover and social capital losses. The results show that the relationship between social capital losses and project performance is U-shaped, and that member withdrawal has significant negative effect on project outcomes. The results also support the mediation of turnover rate and network density on the curvilinear relationship

Why Should I Provide Social Support? A Social Capital Perspective of Individual Helping Behavior in Healthcare Virtual Support Communities

The phenomenon of online social support has been studied for years. However, little is known about the factors that drive individual online helping behavior. While the Information systems literature provides rich insights into the determinants of online social support, the emphasis has been exclusively on the provision of informational help. By contending the need to expand our investigation to different types of support, this paper studies individual provisions of both informational and emotional social support in healthcare virtual support communities (HVSCs). Drawing on social capital theory, the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital are conceptualized as the social support determinants. The results show that the social capital dimensions can be both facilitators and inhibitors of the two types of social support. This study can contribute not only to the literature on HVSCs, but also to studies of other types of virtual communities such as electronic networks of practice

Social Capital and the Equalizing Potential of the Internet

Social capital is predominantly seen as a public good. Internet communication tends to complement real-world interaction. Therefore, concerns that it might contribute to a decline of social capital seem unfounded. Internet communication can support and enhance communities that to some extent depend on face-to-face interaction. Taking the online communication of computer professionals as a model, the paper seeks to demonstrate the power of virtual communities. Examples are the development of Linux and users reactions to a bug in the Pentium processor. Online communication, facilitated by personal home pages and search engines, offers isolated workers opportunities for increasing their private good social capital as well. On the level of infrastructure, key characteristics of the Internet match those of social capital: the network aspect itself, cooperation, voluntary work, giving, standards of social behavior and the fact it is not designed. Downsides of the Internet also correspond to downsides of social capital: exclusion, a trade-off between openness and trust and support for destructive forces. Realizing the equalizing potential of the Internet in terms of social capital requires action; there is also a possible scenario in which social capital is undermined