Personal network on the Internet: How the socially marginalized stay marginalized in personal network diversity and multiplicity

•The impacts of socio-demographics on online personal network were investigated.•Internet access interacted with socio-demographics on network diversity.•The effects of network multiplicity on personal wellbeing differed by background.•The benefits of online personal network hinged upon existing social positions.

The Internet by its asynchronous and non-spatial nature may facilitate the diverse and multiple personal networks, but we hypothesize that this network affordance will be heavily influenced by one’s socio-demographic positions. To test this hypothesis, we used a large survey data set of Internet users (n = 3,120) and examined how users’ socio-demographic positions interact with Internet access to shape the affordance of network diversity and multiplicity. We found significant interactive effects, while network diversity, as indicated by homogeneity and heterogeneity, was not directly impacted by social positions. The effects of network multiplicity on personal wellbeing also differed by socio-demographic background. We argue that, without an understanding of socio-demographic disparities, a focus on Internet affordance fails to recognize the social reproduction in the creation and the benefits of personal networks.