Messages on social networks and its impact on social capital Online publication date: Sun, 05-Apr-2015
by Susana L. González; Gabriel Valerio; Dagoberto Herrera
International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC), Vol. 11, No. 2, 2015
Abstract: Fear of being a possible crime victim causes less social integration. Therefore it directly affects social capital. The mass media may cause a rise in fear of crime when local news involves violence. Nowadays social networks are becoming an alternative channel for any kind of news. In Monterrey, social networks were used to warn Monterrey citizens about contingency measures when natural disasters and security issues happened in the city. The objective of this investigation was to explore the impact of the quantity and frequency of negative messages that are published through Facebook in the perception of Monterrey's social capital. Results show that the most negative topics shared are insecurity and corruption, and politics. Only a 4.2% of participants think that most (more than 50%) of messages received by social networks are negatives. Finally, results found that the exposure to negative messages in social networks has a significant but weak correlation with some social capital dimensions.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook