When data were collected for this study, membership was
restricted to people with a specific host institution email address, further tying offline
networks to online membership. In this sense, the original incarnation of Facebook
was similar to the wired Toronto neighborhood studied by Hampton and Wellman
(e.g., Hampton, 2002; Hampton & Wellman, 2003), who suggest that information
technologymay enhance place-based community and facilitate the generation of social
capital.1