Abstract:
The appeal and functioning of the virtual communities in social networking sites (SNSs) depends on reciprocal behaviours. This paper explores the effects of social capital and social distance on reciprocity in social media, using a sample of 800 users in the context of China’s largest SNS. The concepts of bridging social capital (how many people you know) and bonding social capital (what you do for the community) were operationalised, and consistent effects were found. Discrepancies in relative levels of combined capital, bridging capital and bonding capital all directly affect the likelihood of reciprocity (more capital generates more reciprocation). Discrepancies in bridging capital (number of followers) strongly affect reciprocal behaviour. Discrepancies in bonding capital (number of postings) are significant, but less important, and the two forms of capital do not interact. We conclude with observations on the aspects of this study that do, and do not, generalise to other contexts.