In my postgraduate research Used to do a lot of focus on Social media Theory and Social Capital -- two academic theories through the social sciences field. I thought this was prior to a rise of online social network sites. I just revisited a few of the work I did, and I became enthusiastic about mapping the very idea of Social Capital to social networks because they exist today. As a way to to the next, the following is first a definition and explanation (pulled from my dissertation):
Closely relevant to social media theory would be the theory of 'social capital' which refers to the intrinsic importance of network structures. Generally, social capital "is made of resources embedded in social relations and social structure, which can be mobilized when an actor desired to raise the probability of success in a purposive action" (Lin, 2001b). Lin (2001a) indicates two important components concerning this definition:
First, resources take root in social relations as opposed to in the individual. The properties from the network and an actor's position in this network tend to be important compared to actor himself.
Second, access and employ of those resources are determined by an actress knowing their presence. Appears to be actor just isn't aware of ties or relationships between him and other actors, he cannot use the resources open to him. Social capital then seems not to ever exist, and will only receive existence for your actor once he becomes conscious of it. The ability to identify networks and key role-players in these networks will therefore be able to name social capital where the relevant actors might be completely unaware of them. The purpose of picking out the key actors in the network can therefore be likened to gauging the social capital of an network and finding value in networks where it was not previously observed.
Closely relevant to social media theory would be the theory of 'social capital' which refers to the intrinsic importance of network structures. Generally, social capital "is made of resources embedded in social relations and social structure, which can be mobilized when an actor desired to raise the probability of success in a purposive action" (Lin, 2001b). Lin (2001a) indicates two important components concerning this definition:
First, resources take root in social relations as opposed to in the individual. The properties from the network and an actor's position in this network tend to be important compared to actor himself.
Second, access and employ of those resources are determined by an actress knowing their presence. Appears to be actor just isn't aware of ties or relationships between him and other actors, he cannot use the resources open to him. Social capital then seems not to ever exist, and will only receive existence for your actor once he becomes conscious of it. The ability to identify networks and key role-players in these networks will therefore be able to name social capital where the relevant actors might be completely unaware of them. The purpose of picking out the key actors in the network can therefore be likened to gauging the social capital of an network and finding value in networks where it was not previously observed.