Online Tie Formation in Enterprise Social Media

We study the antecedents to tie formation on an enterprise social media platform implemented to support cross-boundary connections. Research has produced mixed findings regarding the role of social media in cultivating bridging vs. closed networks. We examine the tie formation patterns of 1,386 enterprise social media users over a two-year period. We first find that users tend to form ties via reciprocity and transitivity (with friends of friends). As for whom they initiate ties with in the first place, we find strong tendency to form ties within the same organizational boundaries. We also find that co-membership in online interest groups lead to new connections while no such evidence exists for preferential attachment. Overall, we find that enterprise social media offers features, some of which are likely to foster bridging while others foster closed networks via different mechanisms.