Investigating the Dynamics of Trust in Social Capital on Social Media Platforms

Introduction

Social capital remains an interesting area for researchers ever since the late 19th century when sociologists such as Lester Ward, Émile Durkheim, and Jane Addams are extensively credited with pioneering theories and approaches in the field. According to Oxford dictionary on Lexicon.com, “Social capital is the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively” (n. d.). Throughout the decades, researchers have made a great effort to investigate in depth the core elements in various types of social capital in different contexts and across different disciplines such as economics, sociology, politics, and psychology. These efforts have significantly expanded the research scope and have provided a much better understanding of the impact of social capital on individuals, organizations, and societies as a whole. “Social capital revolves around three dimensions: interconnected networks of relationships between individuals and groups (social ties or social participation); levels of trust that characterize these ties, and resources or benefits that are both gained and transferred by virtue of social ties and social participation” (Britannica, n.d.). No matter what area of social capital is investigated in or researched on, trust is the top important element in all types of social capital. Trust is the foundation for any type of relationship. “Trust is a fundamental component of interpersonal relationships” (Cialdini & Fincham, 1990, p. 1001).

The modern internet technology has brought the level of interconnected networks of relationships between individual and groups to all time high. In addition, social media platforms have shrunk the world and brought everyone so close together virtually. Undoubtedly, the quality of people’s life has been notably improved with the fast internet connection and convenient access to rich information from all resources. Technology has positive impact on online social capital development through connecting people, sharing information, building relationship, and promoting cooperation globally. Trepte and Reinecke (2022) conducted a meta-analysis of 103 studies on the relationship between internet use and social capital concludes “internet use was positively associated with social capital, but the effect size was small” (2022, p. 627).

Today, the fast expansion of AI technology has brought huge disruptions in every aspect of people’s life, and trust in any kind of relationship is facing another critical challenge. As AI technology continues to advance, it is likely that Chatbots and AI-based platforms will increasingly become a more commonplace and heavily used in social networks. AI technology is like a double-edged sword, it definitely brings enormous benefit to people’s life, at the same time it poses a great urgency for everyone to understand and prepare for the new future as AI technology will be an integral part of people’s life. With advanced internet and AI technologies infusing into the platforms of online communication and interaction, it is necessary to better understand how people use and behave virtually and find out if social media platforms are an effective environment to promote social capital development. Hence, the purpose of this chapter's research study is to explore the three dimensions revolving social capital development in the dynamic realm of social media platforms. The investigation aims to uncover the following: 1) student use of social media platforms to establish social networking, 2) perception and attitude towards level of trust on social media platforms, and 3) correlation between social media trust and media use and consumption. Additionally, the study further investigates the gender difference on trust level to find out if gender makes any difference in social networking on the media platforms