The ecology of social interactions in online and offline environments

Antoci, Angelo and Delfino, Alexia and Paglieri, Fabio and Sabatini, Fabio (2016): The ecology of social interactions in online and offline environments.

Abstract

The rise in online social networking has brought about a revolution in social relations. However, its effects on offline interactions and its implications for collective well-being are still not clear and are under-investigated. We study the ecology of online and offline interaction in an evolutionary game framework where individuals can adopt different strategies of socialization. Our main result is that the spreading of self-protective behaviors to cope with hostile social environments can lead the economy to non-socially optimal stationary states.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Evolutionary dynamics; self-protective behavior; social networks; dynamics of social interaction; social networking sites; social capital; Internet; well-being
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C6 - Mathematical Methods ; Programming Models ; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling > C61 - Optimization Techniques ; Programming Models ; Dynamic Analysis; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory > C73 - Stochastic and Dynamic Games ; Evolutionary Games ; Repeated Games; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D85 - Network Formation and Analysis: Theory; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., Sodini, M. (2012a). The Solaria Syndrome: Social Capital in a Hypertechnological Growing Economy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 81 (3), 802-814.

Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., Sodini, M. (2012b). See You on Facebook! A framework for analyzing the role of computer-mediated interaction in the evolution of social capital. Journal of Socio-Economics 41, 541–547.

Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., Sodini, M. (2013a). Economic growth, technological progress and social capital: the inverted U hypothesis. Metroeconomica 64 (3), 401-431.

Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., Sodini, M. (2013b). Bowling alone but tweeting together: the evolution of human interaction in the social networking Era. Quality & Quantity 48 (4), 1912-1927.

Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., Sodini, M. (2015). Online and offline social participation and social poverty traps. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 39 (4), 229-256.

Antoci, A., Sacco, P.L., Vanin, P. (2007). Social capital accumulation and the evolution of social participation. The Journal of Socio-Economics 36(1): 128-143.

Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E. (2011). Social Participation and Hours Worked. Department of Economics University of Siena Working Paper No. 620.

Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E., Pugno, M. (2013). Did the Decline in Social Connections Depress Americans’ Happiness? Social Indicators Research, 110:1033–1059.

Bartolini, S., Bonatti, L. (2008). Endogenous growth, decline in social capital and expansion of market activities. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 67 (3), 917-926.

Bartolini, S., Sarracino, F. (2015). The dark side of Chinese growth: declining social capital and well-being in times of economic boom. World Development 74, 333 – 351.

Bauernschuster, S., Falck, O., Wößmann, L. (2014). Surfing Alone? The Internet and Social Capital: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from an Unforeseeable Technological Mistake. Journal of Public Economics 117, 73-89.

Besser, L. M., Marcus, M. et al. (2008). Commute Time and Social Capital in the US. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 34(3): 207-211.

Bomze, I. (1983). Lotka-Volterra Equations and Replicator Dynamics: A Two-dimensional Classification. Biological Cybernetics, 48, 201-11.

Brenner, J., Smith, A. (2013). 72% of Online Adults are Social Networking Site Users. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Campante, F., Durante, R., Sobbrio, F. (2013). Politics 2.0: The Multifaceted Effect of Broadband Internet on Political Participation. NBER Working Paper w19029.

Costa, D.L., Kahn, E.M. (2003). Understanding the American decline in social capital 1952-1998. Kyklos 56(1), 17-46.

Chou, H., Edge, N. (2012). They are happier and having better lives than I am’: The impact of using Facebook on perceptions of others’ lives. Cyber-psychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 15: 117–121.

Cox, E. (2002). Making the Lucky Country. In: Putnam, R.D. (Ed), Democracies in Flux. The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Russel Neuman, W., Robinson, J. P. (2001). Social Implications of the Internet. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 307-36.

Diener, E. (1979). Deindividuation, self-awareness, and disinhibition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(7), 1160-1171.

Duggan, M. (2014). Online harassment. Washington, DC: Pew Research Internet Project.

Duggan, M., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., Madden, M. (2015). Social Media Update 2014. Pew Research Center.

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook friends: Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.

Falck, O., Gold, R., Heblich, S. (2012). E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet. American Economic Review 104 (7), 2014, 2238-2265.

Helliwell, J., Huang, H. (2013). Comparing the happiness of real and on-line friends. PloS One, 8(9): e72754.

Hirshleifer, J., Martinez Coll, J. C. (1991). The limits of reciprocity. Rationality and Society, 3, 35-64.

Hofbauer J. (1981). On the Occurrence of Limit Cycles in the Volterra-Lotka Equation, Nonlinear Analysis. Theory, Methods and Applications, 5, 1003-1007.

Hofbauer, J., Sigmund, K. (1988). The Theory of Evolution and Dynamical Systems, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Fiorillo, D., Sabatini, F. (2015). Structural social capital and health in Italy. Economics & Human Biology 17, 129-142.

Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social Psychological Aspects of Computer-Mediated Communication. American Psychologist 39 (10), 1123-1134.

Krasnova, H., Wenninger, H., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P. (2013). Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction? Presented at the 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI), Leipzig, Germany.

Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist 53: 1011-1031.

Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J., and Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS One, 8(8): e69841.

Lea, M., O'Shea, T., Fung, P., & Spears, R. (1992). “Flaming” in computer-mediated-communication. In M. Lea, Contexts of computer-mediated-communication. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.

Leigh, A. (2003). Entry on ‘Trends in Social Capital’, prepared for Karen Christensen and David Levinson (eds) (2003) Encyclopaedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Listhaug, O., Grønflaten, L. (2007). Civic Decline? Trends in Political Involvement and Participation in Norway, 1965–2001. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2): 272-299.

Mutz, D. C., Reeves, B. (2005). The New Videomalaise: Effects of Televised Incivility on Political Trust. American Political Science Review 99 (1), 1-15.

Nie, N. H., Sunshine Hillygus D., Erbring, L. (2002). Internet Use, Interpersonal Relations and Sociability: A Time Diary Study. In Wellman, B., Haythornthwaite, C. (eds). The Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 215-243.

Paxton, P. (1999). Is Social Capital Declining in the United States? A Multiple Indicator Assessment. American Journal of Sociology, 105(1): 88-127.

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rainie, L., Lenhart, A., Smith, A. (2012). The tone of life on social networking sites. Washington, DC: Pew Internet Research Center.

Routledge, B.R., Von Amsberg, J. (2002). Social Capital and Growth. Journal of Monetary Economics 50 (1), 167-193.

Sabatini, F., Sarracino, F. (2014a). E-participation: social capital and the Internet. FEEM Working Paper 2014.81.Milano: Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

Sabatini, F., Sarracino, F. (2014b). Online networks and subjective well-being. ArXiv:1408.3550.

Sabatini, F., Sarracino, F. (2015). Online social networks and trust. ArXiv: 1317439.

Sabatini, F., Sarracino, F. (2015). Keeping up with the e-Joneses: Do online social networks raise social comparisons? ArXiv: 1317439.

Sabatini, F., Antoci, A., Paglieri, F., Reggiani, T., Bonelli, L. (2015). The effects of online interaction on trust. An experimental study with Facebook primes. Paper presented at the Conference “Language, Cognition, Society”, Genova, Italy, December 10, 2015.

Sarracino, F. (2010). Social capital and subjective well-being trends: Comparing 11 western European countries. The Journal of Socio-Economics 39(4): 482–517.

Shelton, A., K., Skalski, P. (2014). Blinded by the light: Illuminating the dark side of social network use through content analysis. Computers in Human Behavior 33, 339-348.

Siegel, J., Dubrowsky, W., Kiesler, S., McGuire, T. W. (1986). Group processes in computer-mediated communication. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 37 (2), 157–187.

Sproull, L., Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing Social Context Cues: Electronic Mail in Organizational Communication. Management Science 32 (11), 1492-1513.

Steinfield, C., Ellison, N.B., Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29: 434–445.

Taylor P., Yonker L. (1978). Evolutionary stable strategies and game dynamics, Mathematical Biosciences, 40, 145-56.

Valenzuela, S., Park, N., Kee, K.F. (2009). Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14: 875–901.

Weibull, J.W. (1995). Evolutionary Game Theory, Cambridge (Ma), MIT Press.

Wellman, B., Hampton, K. (2001). Long Distance Community in the Network Society: Contact and Support Beyond Netville. American Behavioral Scientist 45(3), 477-96.

Yamamura, E., Sabatini, F. (2015). The impact of the media on voters' attitude toward Junichiro Koizumi and his policy. Japan and the World Economy 34-35, 24-32.