Q.1.3 Organisations such as Facebook, Airbnb and Uber have harnessed social capital to grow their market shares and become major disruptive forces in their industries. Define and explain how a digital citizen can build and enhance social capital.

Social capital image. [Online] http://www.develop-project.eu/news/analysing-social-capital-for-career-development [Accessed: 21 March 2017].



What is social capital?

Social capital is “the collective value of all social networks (who people know) and the
inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other (‘norms of reciprocity’).
The central premise of social capital is that social networks have value”
(BetterTogether initiative, [s.a.]).


A digital citizen can build and enhance social capital by going out and meeting people.
There are many websites that can help connect people.  Networking is the means of through which you gain social capital.  To improve social capital, it is not about the number of contacts you make, but the long lasting contact you have with them.


Staying in touch with your clients are critical for building and maintaining social capital.  It is important to give your clients a call, call the people who have referred business to you, list a number of people to stay in contact with and do follow ups.  Social capital is an international currency for business networking. 













References:

Digital Citizenship Module Manual 2016 (First Edition: 2015)

Entrepreneur. 2011. Four Steps To Building Social Capital. [Online]. Available at: 
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219590 [Accessed 30 March 2017].