Real and virtual social ties - Connections in the everyday lives of seven ethnic neighborhoods

The relationship between online and offline social ties is studied in seven Los Angeles ethnically marked residential areas. Contrary to visions propo sing a zero-sum game between the two, the authors advance a "the more, the more" approach to online social ties. A higher level of belonging to real c ommunities translates into a higher propensity for interaction online. This approach is informed by asocial shaping of technology perspective, which p roposes that strong anchoring to offline social and cultural groups links c yberspace to people's local communities. Results of a logistic regression a nalysis indicate that the chances of making a friend online increase by 7% for each belonging index unit and by 32% for each neighbor known well enoug h to talk to about a personal problem. Belonging is captured through art in dex measure. combining eight items concerning objective and subjective invo lvement in residential community. Ethnic differences are less pronounced th an expected. However. Asian respondents, particularly those of Korean desce nt, are more likely to form online ties than mainstream White respondents. Focus group data suggest that online ties are established with people of th e same ethnicity.