This study investigates the use of online social networking web sites by undergraduate students as it relates to their sense of community on college campuses. Using a case study method, an audit trail was created to study how undergraduates perceived online social networking web sites like Facebook.com as it relates to their sense of shared values and norms of behavior, extended relationships of caring, and sense of obligation to the greater good of that community. Six undergraduate students were interviewed on three separate occasions to develop deep understanding of how the participants viewed themselves, their campus community, and the relationship of Facebook.com to their own sense of community. The case studies were analyzed using a framework drawn from the research literature related to communitarianism, computer-mediated communication, and face-to-face communication.
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