Research has shown that some individuals benefit from using social media because it may help them to obtain social capital. This article questions who are most likely to benefit: the socially rich (i.e., individuals with a preference for social interaction, support, or without interpersonal problems) or the socially poor? It is hard to provide a definite answer to this question: Previous empirical studies have yielded mixed findings and were difficult to compare due to varying conceptualizations and analytic approaches. To better understand the complex interplay between individuals’ social media use and social capital, we discuss the added value of within-person analyses and person-specific designs.

研究表明，一些人从使用社交媒体中受益，因为它可以帮助他们获得社会资本。本文质疑谁最有可能受益：社会富人（即偏好社交互动、支持或没有人际关系问题的人）还是社会穷人？很难对这个问题提供一个明确的答案：以前的实证研究得出了不同的结果，并且由于不同的概念化和分析方法而难以比较。为了更好地理解个人社交媒体使用和社会资本之间的复杂相互作用，我们讨论了个人内部分析和个人特定设计的附加价值。