Title: Revisiting 'bridging or binding': social capital and the uses of Instant Messenger (IM) and blog

Authors: Hong-Chi Shiau

Addresses: Department of Communications Management, Shih-Hsin University, #1 Lane17 Sec. 1, Mu-Cha Rd., Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract: This study investigates two popular internet uses: Instant Messenger (IM) and web blogs, of which many functions were enabled by the advanced technologies. The results revealed that users in IM network are more likely to bond, whereas users in web blog network are more likely to bridge. The time spent on IM network is a strong and valid predisposition factor for bonding social capital. However, it is against prediction that the bonding or bridging social capital is not related with the size of a network.

Keywords: bonding; bridging; social capital; IM; instant messaging; weblogs; blogs; networks; civic engagement; internet; Asia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJED.2008.021279

International Journal of Electronic Democracy, 2008 Vol.1 No.1, pp.85 - 97

Published online: 16 Nov 2008 *