Virtual network, emotional capital and social movements

Abstract

In the first chapter, I examine the strong impact of social media on the creation of virtual communities and if and how mobile technology and social networks represent elements for relational occasions, in order to and build of bridging social capital. Relational occasions are the bridges that individuals use and “cross” to create sharing on issues of social interest. Social media transform the traditional characteristics of so- cial relationships in the pre-digital age. The way technology is used changes the quality, frequency, availability, selection and exit mechanisms of social relationships. In this way, social re- lationships modify the mechanisms that generate social and emotional capital. The presence of emotional capital and its creation are resources that allows individuals to translate indi- vidual social items into civic engagement and social participa- tion. These diluted forms of participation, connected to social rituals, are celebrated online. We are facing a form of relational globalization. Technological innovation and its “social need” have helped to create the current relational forms increasingly characterized by the emotional dimension, by the creation of emotional capital and by an increasingly thematic and post-ide- ological political participation.