Social Networking Sites & Social Capital in Singapore A Study To Draw The Links Social Networking Sites & Social Capital

What Are Social Networking Sites? Web-based services that allow the Construction of a profile Articulation of a list of ‘friends‘ Traversing of current connections (Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. 2007)

What Is Social Capital? “The goodwill that is engendered by the fabric of social relations and that can be mobilized to facilitate action.” (Adler & Kwon)

What Is Social Capital? (cont’d) Social Capital Bonding Bridging ties between people in similar situations building of connections between heterogeneous groups (Schuller,Baron & Field 2000)

Establishing Boundaries Business context only Restricted to professional service firms Finance, Consulting, Accounting etc

Background

Social Networking Sites Social Capital Enhanced Performance for Professional Services Firms Introduction Background Hypothesis #1 Hypothesis #2 Implications & Recommendations

Benefits of Increased Social Capital Better and increased knowledge-sharing by drawing on resources from members of networks Access to individuals outside one’s close circle provides access to non-redundant information (Granovetter, 1973) Lower transaction costs (Cohen and Prusak 2001: 10) Benefits Of Increased Social Capital Introduction Background Hypothesis #1 Hypothesis #2 Implications & Recommendations

Social Networking Sites Social Capital Enhanced Performance for Professional Services Firms Proven Correlation! Area Of Focus Introduction Background Hypothesis #1 Hypothesis #2 Implications & Recommendations

Popular Social Networking Sites

Hypothesis #1

Hypothesis #1 There is a positive relationship between social networking sites and bridging and bonding social capital in professional service firms

Data Spatially Bounded Online Social Networks and Social Capital: The Role of Facebook (Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe, 2006) The Social Capital of Structural Holes (Ronald S. Burt, 2001) Social Capital: Critical Perspectives (P. Maskell, 2000)

Relationship Between SNS And Bonding Social Capital “…an informal way of asking and answering questions in a risk-free environment for employees...” “… the group has allowed [us] to network alumni with past co-workers” Michael Staub, creator of PricewaterhouseCoopers Facebook Group

Relationship between SNS and Bridging Social Capital LinkedIn.com: Where Relationships Matter Place to find and leverage professional relationships Your network: 3 degrees 2nd and 3rd degree: Introduction via mutual contact LinkedIn Answers Best answers gain points of expertise

Relationship between SNS and Bridging Social Capital (cont’d) Prosper.com Peer-to-peer lending Friends bidding on borrowers' loans Capture social relationships and social reputations in a way that allows borrowers to monetize their social capital

Hypothesis #2

Hypothesis #2 There is a positive relationship between Social Networking Sites and bridging and bonding social capital in professional service firms in Singapore

What We Did Short interviews of working professionals Interview with a director of ING Group Interview with CEO of two advertising companies

Interviews with Working Professionals Introduction Background Hypothesis #1 Hypothesis #2 Implications & Recommendations

Interviews with Working Professionals 16-25 26-35 36-45

Interviews with Working Professionals (cont’d)

Why I Use It Gather market information Headhunt people Organize office events Keep in touch with business contacts Ask for help from friends/contacts

Why I Do Not Use It Professionalism Lack of contacts Security issues Perception issues Company policy

Interview with Mr. Vincent Liow Face to face interaction very important Singapore’s market is very small Need for intensive ground work

Interview with Mr. Alvin Wong Communication between staff and clients Reach specific groups Wide network of artists Face to face impact negligible People grow up

The Rest: Limitations, Implications & Recommendations

Limitations of study Internal Validity Construct limited Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn External Validity Generalizability limited Qualitative research

Implications Social capital is vital for Knowledge-Based Economies (KBEs)

Recommendations Start small. But start somewhere. Social capital is not homogeneous Needed by different industries Provided by different sites

Conclusion Hypothesis #1 Hypothesis #2 Potential to tap on