Online networks destroy social trust

TL;DR

This study empirically examines how online social networking impacts social capital, finding increased face-to-face interactions but decreased social trust, potentially due to hate speech online.

Contribution

It provides the first empirical analysis of online networking's effects on trust and sociability, addressing endogeneity with exogenous broadband variation.

Findings

Online networking increases face-to-face interactions

Social trust decreases with online interactions

Hate speech may contribute to trust erosion

Abstract

Studies in the social capital literature have documented two stylised facts: first, a decline in measures of social participation has occurred in many OECD countries. Second, and more recently, the success of social networking sites (SNSs) has resulted in a steep rise in online social participation. Our study adds to this body of research by conducting the first empirical assessment of how online networking affects two economically relevant aspects of social capital, i.e. trust and sociability. We address endogeneity in online networking by exploiting technological characteristics of the pre-existing voice telecommunication infrastructures that exogenously determined the availability of broadband for high-speed Internet. We find that participation in SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter has a positive effect on face-to-face interactions. However, social trust decreases with online interactions. We argue that the rising practice of hate speech may play a crucial role in the destruction of trust.