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 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.]).

The more social networks are used the more people create trust, co-operation, information and exchange this in return creates value between those that are connected and this is what builds social capital. Skills like communication and social skills are also improved, digital literacy increases and even the self-worth of the individual is higher.