Internet Use and Social Capital: The Strength of Virtual Ties

This paper aims to understand how Internet users may improve their social capital by investing in social online activities. We argue that Internet can be a convenient and efficient means of maintaining existing social ties and/or of creating new ties. We seek to identify the drivers of online investments in social capital and the nature of the interaction with traditional forms of investments in social capital. Using a Luxembourg household survey, the econometric results reveal a significant positive impact of volunteer activities and trust (two measures of social capital) on online investments to maintain social capital, but more ambiguous relations are found between online investments and face-to-face contacts with friends. By contrast, online investments to create new ties are poorly related to the Internet users' existing social capital. Our results also show that geographic mobility tends to increase social capital built online.