Weekly Blog #5
Social capital is almost what we might reference today as “clout.” Social capital builds up over time. The more connections you make — the more interconnected you are in a system — the more social capital you possess. Someone can acquire social capital by being trustworthy (credible) or they might just be the most popular thing in the current moment (trendy).
An example of someone that might have a lot of social capital could be a professional basketball player (or really any sports figure for that matter). Perhaps they started making a lot of connections in high school. Maybe they were great or even the best for their age. Regardless, they started making connections within the sports community. Colleges send scouts to watch high school games and “recruit” the players to their team. The NBA scouts start watching at who the colleges are picking up because they need to start planning four to five years in the future for their team.
Then, that player begins to gain a following. They start starting for their college team and are seeing playing time at a Division I school. The sports community is buzzing and everyone is passing around the latest names coming up in the sport. With all of this hype and excitement surrounding this player, they are invited to tryout with the NBA league teams. When the player performs well, they might have secured a spot in the NBA Draft. Thanks to Twitter, news passes around quickly about athletes and sports fans love to bolster their own confidence in their teams. Soon, the athlete is being retweeted and “@’d” to the point where all of their social capital makes them a public figure.
Oh yeah, it also helps if your dad started a TV show about you.
