Political Science Commons^™

Bowling Online: The Internet And The New Social Capital, Jason Gainous, Kevin M. Wagner

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

The decline thesis proponents in the social capital literature have largely ignored the fastest growing venue for new social capital formation - the Internet. We argue that the Internet is making a larger impact than the current research acknowledges. Using survey data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project combined with a survey of college students, we confirm a strong positive relationship between online social networking and political participation. Further, we present evidence that, at least in 2008 election, there was a bias toward voting for Democrats among those who utilized online social networking services including Facebook and Twitter. …