The use of online social networks such as Facebook.com are hypothesized to be affecting Robert Putnams (1995) theory of social capital. The research method is modeled after Dhavan Shahs (2005) Information>Communication>Participation model. This study found that users of these sites tend to have an equal or greater likelihood of engaging in citizen communication or civic participation if they use social networks for informational purposes. Qualitative data indicates that users of online social networks communicate over greater temporal and geographic distances to maintain what Mark...