Studies on Social Networking Web Site for Building Social Capital

Case of Lake Biwa Citizen Research Center

Abstract

The objective of this study was to elucidate with a questionnaire survey and social network analysis how the social network (SNW) of Web site called "Lake Biwa Citizen Research Center" has expanded. The center aims at developing SNWs for building social capital. As a result, it was revealed that SNW expansions of limited number of answerers were remarkable while SNWs of all answerers had also expanded after their participation in the site, and that the entire SNW had been densified through active roles of the limited number of answerers in going between other members of the site.