In Putnam’s (2000) view, bonding social capital reflects strong ties with family
and close friends, who might be in a position to provide emotional support or access
to scarce resources. Williams (2006) points out that little empirical work has explicitly
examined the effects of the Internet on bonding social capital, although some
studies have questioned whether the Internet supplements or supplants strong ties
(see Bargh & McKenna, 2004, for a review).