This study using Grannoveter's concept of 'strong and weak ties' is interesting, not so much because it is about the Internet, but because it blames the Internet. You could say exactly the opposite (and some researchers do); that the Internet actually increases social networks. Robert Putnam in his mammoth study of the decline of 'social capital' in the US in the post war period (Bowling Alone 2003), hints that television is to blame. I think that it is a number of factors; most likely good old fashioned laziness linked to right-wing 'wowserness'. Get out there and have a good time and talk to a few people folks!
The Internet may be contributing to a long term decline in the social networks in the US, according to to a study that reveals fewer close ties are now shared with family and friends than twenty years ago.(from the Age.com.au..Link )
