{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]],"date-time":"2025-12-29T19:04:54Z","timestamp":1767035094338,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,6]],"date-time":"2013-03-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1362528000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Future Internet"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study examines the participation of African Americans on social networking sites (SNS), and evaluates the degree to which African Americans engage in activities in the online environment to mitigate social capital deficits. Prior literature suggests that compared with whites, African Americans have less social capital that can enhance their socio-economic mobility. As such, my research question is: do African Americans enhance their social capital through their participation on SNS? I use nationally representative data collected from the Pew Internet and American Life Project to explore the research question. The results suggest that the online environment is potentially a space in which African Americans can lessen social capital deficits.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/fi5010056","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,6]],"date-time":"2013-03-06T11:11:47Z","timestamp":1362568307000},"page":"56-66","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["African Americans and Network Disadvantage: Enhancing Social Capital through Participation on Social Networking Sites"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Danielle","family":"Smith","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Rochester Institute of Technology, 21 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"781","DOI":"10.1177\/146144804047513","article-title":"The Internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users","volume":"6","author":"Mehra","year":"2004","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1028","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2009.04.026","article-title":"Person perception by active versus passive perceivers","volume":"45","author":"Waggoner","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"573","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2008.12.009","article-title":"On being liked on the web and in the \u201creal world\u201d: Consistency in first impressions from personal webpages and spontaneous behavior","volume":"45","author":"Weisbuch","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1177\/0896920509103983","article-title":"How does tie strength affect access to social capital resources for the careers of working and middle class African-Americans?","volume":"35","author":"DiTomaso","year":"2009","journal-title":"Crit. Sociol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"638","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2010.514355","article-title":"Race and online content creation: Why minorities are actively participating in the web","volume":"14","author":"Correa","year":"2010","journal-title":"Inf. Commun. Soc."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"985","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444809341436","article-title":"ICT as cultural practice: Group differences in attitudes towards technology among Americans","volume":"12","author":"Graham","year":"2010","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.3390\/fi3030185","article-title":"Internet as digital practice: Differences in African American internet activity","volume":"3","author":"Graham","year":"2011","journal-title":"Future Internet"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Steinfield, C., DiMicco, J., Ellison, N., and Lampe, C. (2009, January 25\u201327). Bowling online: Social networking and social capital within the organization. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Communities and Technologies, New York, NY, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1556460.1556496"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"758","DOI":"10.1177\/0002764209350836","article-title":"Bonding social capital in a postcommunist region","volume":"53","author":"Kaminska","year":"2010","journal-title":"Am. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"506","DOI":"10.1177\/0020764008094429","article-title":"Exploring the hypothesis of ethnic practice as social capital: Violence among Asian\/Pacific Islander youth in Hawaii","volume":"55","author":"Spencer","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1177\/0001699312439080","article-title":"Formal and informal social capital and self-rated health in Europe: A new test of accumulation and compensation mechanisms using a multi-level perspective","volume":"55","author":"Huijts","year":"2012","journal-title":"Acta Sociol."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"761","DOI":"10.1177\/0950017010380640","article-title":"Social capital and wage disadvantages among immigrant workers","volume":"24","author":"Behtoui","year":"2010","journal-title":"Work Employ. Soc."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"447","DOI":"10.1177\/0018726711431853","article-title":"Understanding the antecedents, the outcomes and the mediating role of social capital: An employee perspective","volume":"65","author":"Parzefall","year":"2012","journal-title":"Human Relat."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1100","DOI":"10.1177\/0042085911400334","article-title":"The impact of community bonding and bridging social capital on educational performance in Israel","volume":"46","author":"Menahem","year":"2011","journal-title":"Urban Educ."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Richardson, J. (1986). Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, Greenwood."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S95","DOI":"10.1086\/228943","article-title":"Social capital in the creation of human capital","volume":"94","author":"Coleman","year":"1988","journal-title":"Am. J. Soc."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon and Schuster.","DOI":"10.1145\/358916.361990"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1353\/sof.2006.0133","article-title":"When does social capital matter? Non-searching for jobs across the life course","volume":"85","author":"McDonald","year":"2006","journal-title":"Soc. Forces"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1187","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.89.8.1187","article-title":"Social capital and self-rated health: A contextual analysis","volume":"89","author":"Kawachi","year":"1999","journal-title":"Am. J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1177\/1012690210362027","article-title":"The relationship between community sport clubs and social capital in Japan: A comparative study between the comprehensive community sport clubs and the traditional community sports clubs","volume":"45","author":"Okayasu","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. Rev. Sociol. Sport"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-5907.2007.00248.x","article-title":"Social capital and the dynamics of trust in government","volume":"51","author":"Keele","year":"2007","journal-title":"Am. J. Polit. Sci."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lin, N. (2001). Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511815447"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lin, N., and Erickson, B. (2008). Social Capital: An International Research Program, Oxford University Press.","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199234387.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1177\/0021934704273501","article-title":"The effects of social group membership and social capital resources on careers","volume":"36","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Black Stud."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1086\/428814","article-title":"\"Don\u2019t put my name on it\u201d: Social capital activation and job finding assistance among the black urban poor","volume":"111","author":"Smith","year":"2005","journal-title":"Am. J. Sociol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.11.5.493.15202","article-title":"Race-related differences in promotions and support: Underlying effects of human and social capital","volume":"11","author":"James","year":"2000","journal-title":"Organ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"210","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x","article-title":"Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship","volume":"13","author":"Boyd","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Comput.-Mediat. Commun."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"711","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444809343568","article-title":"The computer-mediated communication network: Exploring the linkage between the online community and social capital","volume":"12","author":"Lee","year":"2010","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Benkler, Y. (2007). The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yale University Press."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"317","DOI":"10.1177\/0093650211398865","article-title":"Minority status and the use of computer-mediated communication: A test of the social diversification hypothesis","volume":"39","author":"Mesch","year":"2012","journal-title":"Commun. Res."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Pew Internet and American Life (2008). Spring Tracking Survey. Available online:http:\/\/www.pewinternet.org\/Reports\/2008\/Podcast-Downloading-2008\/Questions-and-Data\/Spring-Tracking-Survey-2008.aspx."},{"key":"ref_32","first-page":"53","article-title":"Metcalfe\u2019s law: A network becomes more valuable as it reaches more users","volume":"17","author":"Metcalfe","year":"1995","journal-title":"InfoWorld"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Smith, A. Available online:http:\/\/www.pewinternet.org\/Reports\/2010\/Mobile-Access-2010.aspx."}],"container-title":["Future Internet"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-5903\/5\/1\/56\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T21:45:20Z","timestamp":1760219120000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-5903\/5\/1\/56"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,6]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,3]]}},"alternative-id":["fi5010056"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/fi5010056","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-5903"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1999-5903"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,6]]}}}