Facebook helps: a case study of cross-cultural social networking and social capital

This paper reports on two studies investigating the perceived social capital (SC) associated with cross-cultural social networking on Facebook (FB). A survey study showed that greater intensity of cross-cultural FB interactions was positively associated with a perceived increase in cross-cultural social capital (CCSC). A follow-up interview study further revealed that the perceived benefits of online SC depend on both the type of FB interaction and the type of friendship, as well as a combination of situational circumstances and cultural background of the interviewee. This study also contributes to the study of cross-cultural social networking by employing and validating a scale for measuring online CCSC.