• Derek Lackaff, Kyounghee Kwon, Michael Stefanone
• First Monday

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10 February 2011People are becoming more involved with managing their personal lives online via blogs, media sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube, and on social network sites (SNSs) like Facebook. In particular, the rapid growth of SNSs is prompting the re–examination of some areas of computer–mediated communication (CMC) research and the nature of online social networks. Since SNSs became mainstream, online friendship has drawn the attention of a range of scholars (for example, Ellison, et al., 2007). There is little consensus, however, on how expansive mediated social networks differ from traditional off–line friends, and the utility of SNSs to facilitate the mobilization resources embedded in social networks.

This study investigated the instrumental value of resources embedded in online social networks. Forty–nine primary participants solicited a total of 588 secondary participants who were asked to complete a modest task. Approximately 16 percent of all secondary participants responded (N=98) to the request. 8.5 percent of weak ties responded and strong ties were about three times more likely to respond. Perceived reciprocity, contact frequency and a composite measure of tie strength were all positively related to enacted support.