There is a tendency in the literature on local digital media use and neighborhood outcomes to conceptualize Social Network Sites (SNSs) as mere transmission channels, thereby ignoring SNSs’ dynamics and limiting the understanding of their role in neighborhood life. Informed by Communication Infrastructure Theory and social media literature, we propose and test a model to investigate the association between the use of SNSs, appropriated as online neighborhood networks, and neighborhood sense of community. We administered a survey to Flemish online neighborhood network users (n = 590) and found that active localized SNS use brings about an online sense of community and community awareness, which both independently lead to a neighborhood sense of community. Based on these findings, we argue that SNSs, appropriated as online neighborhood networks, function simultaneously as neighborhood hotspots in a neighborhood’s communication action context as well as community awareness media in a neighborhood’s storytelling network.

中文翻译：

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邻里热点与社区意识：社交网站在当地社区的双重作用

关于本地数字媒体使用和邻里结果的文献倾向于将社交网站 (SNS) 概念化为单纯的传播渠道，从而忽略 SNS 的动态并限制对其在邻里生活中作用的理解。根据通信基础设施理论和社交媒体文献，我们提出并测试了一个模型来调查使用 SNS（被用作在线社区网络）与社区的社区意识之间的关联。我们对佛兰芒在线社区网络用户（n = 590）进行了一项调查，发现积极的本地化 SNS 使用带来了在线社区感和社区意识，这两者都独立地导致了社区社区感。基于这些发现，我们认为 SNS 被用作在线社区网络，