There is a strain of thought that sees the Internet as an agent of isolation, that as people spend more and more time online, their personal relationships decay apace.
That view is not echoed in a new study from the Pew Internet Project, which has found that the Internet, far from keeping people alone in front of their computers, has become an important mechanism for engagement with groups.
That phenomenon has been on full display in recent political campaigns, but Pew looks at the impact of the Internet and social media hives like Facebook and Twitter on an array of group activities. Datamation takes a look.