It's nice to have a friend : The experiences of young adults' social media usage and how it influences their social capital

This study explored the experiences of young university students' social media usage and how they perceived the influence it had on their social capital, meaning resources provided by friends and family, through the use of semi-structured interviews. Previously, three hypotheses on the relationship between social media and social capital have been established, namely the poor-get-richer-hypothesis, the rich-get-richer-hypothesis and the rich-get-poorer hypothesis. The first assumes that social media acts as a social enhancement tool, the second that it strengthens and the third that it weakens existing relationships. This study aimed to gain new insights on potential relationships between social capital and social media based on personal experiences.