Selected Research on Social Networking from Emily Dalton Smith (Director of Student Engagement at ASU Online), and Michael Staton (CEO and Co-Founder of Inigral, Inc.).

1. Bai, Haiyan; Pan, Wei. A Multilevel Approach to Assessing the Interaction Effects on College Student Retention. Journal of College Student Retention; Research, Theory & Practice, v11 n2 p287-301 2009-2010.
2. Borglum, K. & Kubala, T. (2000) “Academic and social integration of community college students: a case study” Community College Journal of Research and Practice vol. 24 pp.567-576.
3. Braxton, J.M. (ed.) (2000/02) Reworking the student departure puzzle (Vanderbilt University Press)
4. Coll, Kenneth M.; Stewart, Roger A. College Student Retention: Instrument Validation and Value for Partnering between Academic and Counseling Services. College Student Journal, v42 n1 p41-56 Mar 2008.
5. Thomas, E.A.M. (2002a) “Building social capital to improve student success” BERA conference
6. Thomas, S.L. (2000) “Ties that bind: A social network approach to understanding student integration and persistence” Journal of Higher Education vol. 75 no. 5 pp.591-615.
7. Tinto, V. (1975) “Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research” Review of Educational Research vol. 45, pp.89-125.
8. Wilcox, Paula; Winn, Sandra; Fyvie-Gauld, Marylynn. “It Was Nothing to Do with the University, It Was Just the People”: The Role of Social Support in the First-Year Experience of Higher Education. Studies in Higher Education, v30 n6 p707-722 Dec 2005.

*Credit Stephen W. Draper, Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow for a good discussion of the Tinto model and its use today, as well as many sources.

1. Boyd, D. (2009, April 18). Living and Learning with Social media. Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology . State College, PA.
2. Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication , 13 (1).
3. Brewer, L. C., & Yu, C. H. (2008, October 29). Crafting a Campus Identity: First-Year Students, Residential Life, and Social Networking. Educause 2008. Denver, CO.
4. Coughlan, S. (2009, October 13). Facebook ‘cuts student drop-outs’. Retrieved October 27, 2009 from BBC News: link.
5. Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication , 12 (4).
6. Neff, G. (2005). The Changing Place of Cultural Production: The Location of Social Networks in a Digital Media Industry. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 597, 134-152.
7. Toral, S. L., Martinez-Torres, M. R., Barrero, F., & Cortes, F. (2009). An empirical study of the driving forces behind online communities. Internet Research , 19 (40), 378-392.
8. Valenzuela, S., Park, N., & Kee, K. (2009). Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication .
9. Valenzuela, S., Park, N., & Kee, K. (2008, April 4-8). Lessons from Facebook: The Effect of Social Network Sites on College Students’ Social Capital. Submitted to the 9th International Symposium on Online Journalism .
10. Wellman, B., Quan Haase, A., Witte, J., & Hampton, K. (2001). Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital? Social Networks, Participation, and Community Commitment. The American Behavioral Scientist , 45 (3), 436-455.

• Danah Boyd, Microsoft (link). (includes extensive SN bibliography)
• Sebastian Valenzuela, UT Austin (link).
• Matthew Pittisky, ASU (link).