SOCIAL CAPITAL ON TWITTER: THE CASE OF CANDIDATES FOR SÃO PAULO MAYORAL ELECTION

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to analyze how relationships between individuals are structured in a virtual network, Twitter. The analysis is supported by theories of social capital. Twitter accounts of the candidates for São Paulo mayoral election, in the year 2012, were analyzed by using the NodeXL program. Quantitative validation by means of the clustering coefficient Clauset, Newman & Moore (2004) was applied. As a result, there were identified - through the topological/quantitative method - intersection points between the social capital and the relationships between individuals in virtual groups on Twitter, explained by reciprocal relations in each network.