Social capital are the resources we gain through our relationships with others. Thinking about how many people we are all connected with you can't imagine how many different opportunities you can gain through knowing people. In our day and age, this is becoming more and more relevant as word of mouth is one of the most effective ways to promote or advertise.
Today in my strategic communication class, we had a guest speaker come and talk about just this topic, although he never mentioned "social capital." He gave us advice for the real world, that when we graduate and are looking for jobs in different areas and agencies, to not ask for a job, but to ask for advice. When you are asking for advice, you are talking to an individual who has connections, and once you make a connection with that person, they will connect you with others. Putting our foot in others peoples doors gives us an opportunity to make an impression on people and expand our social circle which in turn will lead to this social capital. To make it anywhere, you must build relationships with others to increase chances of moving forward and succeeding.
Social networking sites enable the use of social capital. On my facebook alone I have upwards of 900 friends, who most of which I know personally or have met one time or another. All these peope are constantly updating me with not just personal status, but of different ones concerning jobs, entertainment ect. Just the other day I was on my friends profile, who updated her status as "Does anyone know how to fix a bug in a computer" Immediatly after she posted that, there were already about 5 comments from different people sayin they know how. She now had about 5 different people that could help her with her problem. She gains knowledge from these people after one single post online.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That was interesting advice that the guest speaker gave your class, it makes sense and I think it does apply to social capital. I have also noticed friends on my facebook page using the social capital they are connected with for their benefit and learning. I think I did this intuitively before I knew what social capital was, but now that I fully understand the concept I think I will use it to my advantage more when I need the answer to a question or something.
ReplyDeleteSocial capitol is an obvious necessary in today's day and age. It's true that making connections, no matter the medium, will certainly help you progress into what you want to do later on down the road, most specifically, the job market, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Facebook, you're right in the sense that it is a social capital playground. Folks can ask upon any person who they may or may not be friends with to help them out regarding any sort of issue.
It's an evolving trend that should continue to move onward and upward within the near future--it's just going to be interesting where it goes, and to what extent.
Social Capital to me is very important when connecting with people. It involves connecting with people and getting resources from those people. I personally got my job and still stay in touch with my boss from at home as well as many other of my friends when I'm not there at the time. I think that with websites like Monster.com and other job application websites it opens up society's communication with employers to the job market. I think that the idea is genious many of my friends are graduating this year and have already been getting job interviews from posting there applications on this website. I think this is a perfect example of social cpaital in that it connects you with many resources that the internet has to offer.
ReplyDelete