2011-015

Bloggers

Friendship

LiveJournal

Media

Panel Data

Reciprocation

Reciprocity

Social Capital

Social Media

Social Networks

This paper deals with the role of reciprocation in the formation of individuals’ social networks, that is to what extent initiating a relation brings about its reciprocation. Following the activity of a panel of bloggers over more than a year, we seek to establish whether bloggers are mainly involved in social networking or are part of the media industry. We adapt a standard capital investment model to study the effect of reciprocation on the building of social capital. Results of our analysis confirm that activity and reciprocation both play a role in the dynamics of social media.