Social support as a key factor in digital inequalities: the necessity of including social networks in the inequalities research agenda

This presentation draws on the results of a large-scale study on the composition and socio-economic background of social support networks and their moderating role in explaining digital inequalities. This study, issued and funded by a local government, based on van Dijk’s multiple access model, acknowledges motivational, material, skills and usage divides, while focusing on the under-researched issue of social support. Drawing upon the concept of homophily in social networks, the results indicate a link between offline and online exclusion, perpetuating digital inequalities. Although the Internet is commonplace in today’s contemporary society, and most of us have gained considerable experience in using it, it is clear we still tend to seek support from our social networks. However, these networks appear unequal in the ability to offer support, or at least to lift motivation and skills (and hence the attained outcomes) to an equal level. Research into digital inequalities, especially their social substrates, hence remains a focal point of attention for Internet researchers, especially considering their far-reaching consequences. In our presentation, we focus on contemplating implications in terms of research agenda and policy recommendations, especially elaborating their interface and the tensions that possibly go along. In doing so, we especially encourage going beyond individualized accounts of support seeking by analysing these social networks and identifying and supporting so-called warm experts, their skills levels and ways of offering support, which allows understanding and possibly intervening in its social dynamics