social networking website is a social network service platform based on Web2.0 technology. It allows users to create an open or semi-open personal homepage in a relatively closed application system, and display users with whom they are connected in the friend list through relevant links.
In this application system, users can not only create and browse their own personal homepages, but also view the personal homepages of users with whom they are related.
In recent years, social networking sites such as , Weibo, , and WeChat have become important media for Internet users to obtain news and resource information, conduct interpersonal interaction, self-presentation, information sharing, and social participation. As a platform for interpersonal communication and a medium for social participation, social networking sites create conditions for individuals to acquire online social capital. Research by
Coyne et al. found that social relationship networks can help individuals establish close, high-quality "strong connection" relationships with acquaintances or important others, such as relationships between family members, relationships between classmates, and teacher-student relationships.
Individuals can obtain social support and social recognition from this "strong connection" relationship, satisfy the need for belonging and love, and thus be conducive to the accumulation of individual adhesive social capital.
In addition, some studies have also pointed out that social networking sites can promote the exchange and sharing of information between groups of different backgrounds, allowing individuals to establish more extensive " weak connection " relationships with others.
This "weak connection" can provide individuals with more new information and new resources. It can be seen that social networking sites, like real life situations, can also provide an important platform for individuals to obtain social capital.
It is worth noting that the formation of social capital occurs in specific interpersonal interactions, and the construction of online social capital also relies on online interpersonal interactions. However, the particularity of online interpersonal communication makes immediate feedback from both parties particularly important.
Specifically, the functional features of social networking sites themselves provide users with a more open and interactive interface platform. Users can post photos, update status, chat online, etc. on social networking sites, and friends will give positive feedback, such as comments, likes, etc.
Through these positive feedbacks, individuals can feel the understanding, recognition, support and care from others, satisfy their needs for belonging and love, and thus be conducive to the accumulation of bonding social capital such as emotional support.
However, if personal status updates and sharing do not receive evaluation or response from online friends, it is usually regarded as a kind of social rejection or social neglect, and it is difficult for communication activities to actually take place, and it is even more difficult to form interpersonal capital in the friend network.
In this way, positive feedback from others is particularly important for individuals to construct their own online social capital, and may even become an important intermediary factor in the process of constructing online social capital.
In summary, social networking sites, as an important online communication platform, have penetrated into all aspects of adolescents' lives and created an important social environment for the healthy physical and mental development of adolescents.
Therefore, studying the relationship between teenagers’ use of social networking sites, online positive feedback and online cohesive social capital has certain implications for guiding teenagers to adjust their social networking site usage behavior and social interaction behavior to maximize the resources they need.
1. The relationship between proactive use of social networking sites, online positive feedback and online cohesive social capital
The study found that proactive use of social networking sites and positive feedback from others when talking about individuals can significantly and positively predict online social capital. The more proactive social networking site use behavior and the more positive feedback from others when talking about oneself, the more conducive it is to the accumulation of individual online cohesive social capital.
The more actively an individual uses social networking sites, the more online bonding social capital he or she acquires. When using active social networking sites, individuals will proactively and proactively interact with others by actively initiating public or private chats, sharing photos, pictures, diaries, updating status, etc. on social networking sites.
In this process, individuals are active and use social networking sites for certain motives and purposes.
Therefore, in order to meet their own needs, when using social networking sites, individuals must actively and proactively conduct social interactions in a way that the other party can feel. They must proactively adopt certain strategies and use certain resources in exchange for the resources they want. Only in this way can the interaction between the two parties be mobilized and the relationship cultivated.
With the continuous development of interactive behaviors and resource exchange behaviors, individuals’ online bonding social capital will also increase.
The more positive feedback from others when talking about an individual, the more online bonding social capital the individual gains. Social networking sites enable information to be disseminated more widely at lower costs and through diverse communication methods, and provide a more open platform for interaction between people. As a result, this platform also promotes more participation, feedback, and interaction.
For example, when users share photos and update status, they will get "likes" and "comments" from friends; when they need help from others, they may post a status and friends may immediately provide suggestions.
In this process, continuous positive feedback between individuals is conducive to the bonding of social network relationships, and it can also create an environment for information exchange to generate social capital. And the study further found that positive feedback from talking about friends-related things cannot significantly predict an individual's online social capital.
The reason is that the relationship between an individual and most of his friends on social networking sites is loose and not close, and they are in a wide range of "weak connections".
Therefore, if you post on social networking sites or talk to them about the dynamics of another unrelated person in a chat, the other party will be even less familiar with the third person, so they will not be very interested and will not give much positive feedback, which is not conducive to the accumulation of online cohesive social capital.
2. The gender difference model of the mediating effect of online positive feedback between the use of social networking sites and online bonding social capital
(1) The gender difference model of the mediating role of online positive feedback between the intensity of use of social networking sites and online bonding social capital
The study found that there are gender differences in the mediating role of online positive feedback between the intensity of use of social networking sites and online bonding social capital.
In the male group, the mediating effect between the two dimensions of online positive feedback between the intensity of use of social networking sites and online bonding social capital is not established, but this mediating effect is established in the female group.
It can be seen from this that compared with boys, girls can not only obtain online cohesive social capital through the intensity of use of social networking sites, but also indirectly obtain online cohesive social capital through positive online feedback. Studies have shown that female college students’ usage intensity of social networking sites is significantly higher than that of male students.
Specifically, compared with male college students, female college students’ social partners on social networking sites are more friends whom they already know or are familiar with in real life, and have a certain degree of emotional foundation. Therefore, girls receive higher levels of positive feedback and interaction on social networking sites, and the content of interactive feedback is more personal, life-oriented, and intimate.
Compared with female college students, male college students use social networking sites more as a platform to obtain information and relax and entertain, such as playing online games, rather than interacting with others.
Moreover, some studies have pointed out that online entertainment usage behavior represented by online games can negatively predict bonding social capital such as peer relationships, lover relationships, and the quality of parent-child relationships.
Therefore, boys receive less positive feedback than girls, and the mediating role of online positive feedback between the intensity of use of social networking sites and online bonding social capital is not obvious.
(2) Gender difference model in the mediating role of online positive feedback between proactive social networking site use and online bonding social capital
Through the investigation of different gender groups, it was found that there are gender differences in the mediating role of positive feedback from others when talking about individuals between proactive social networking site use and online bonding social capital.
It can be seen from this that compared to boys, girls can not only obtain online cohesive social capital through active use of social networking sites, but also indirectly obtain online cohesive social capital through positive feedback from others when talking about themselves. The reason may be that men and women have different dating patterns in active social networking site use.
Compared with women, men prefer to establish new social relationships on social networking sites, meet new friends they did not know before, and establish extensive "weak connection" relationships. Women, on the other hand, tend to maintain their existing relationship networks.
Valkenburg's research also confirmed that social networking sites based on acquaintances, friends or companions will make it easier for users to obtain positive feedback from acquaintances such as relatives, friends and peers.
"Weak connection" relationship does not have a common life circle and does not know the other party's affairs very well, so the positive feedback that can be given is relatively less.
In addition, through research on self-disclosure (a type of active social networking site use), it has been found that there are significant gender differences in the breadth and enthusiasm of self-disclosure. Specifically, girls have a significantly higher breadth of disclosure than boys, and girls have a higher enthusiasm for disclosure than boys.
It can also be seen from this that girls have more proactive behaviors in using social networking sites than boys. Therefore, they will receive more positive feedback and thus gain more social capital.
In summary, among boys, the mediating effect of positive feedback from others when talking about personal dynamics is not significant between active social networking site use and online cohesive social capital.
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