The guy in high school with the fastest car usually ran with the A crowd. This held on through college. Those hotrods from high school morphed into hot ’Vettes and foreign cars with serious horses under the hood.

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These guys didn’t just have women on their arms at parties: They were surrounded by a gaggle.

Now segue to the Internet: Guess who gets the girls?

Power = social interaction?

Is the equation that simple? Well not quite, but a recently released study shows that people with broadband Internet access tend to be more social than those with slower, dial-up access. Additionally, both broadband- and narrowband-access Internet users tended to be more socially engaged and knowledgeable than nonusers, the study reported.

The study, by University of Michigan researcher Nojin Kwak, said that broadband Internet tends to facilitate interpersonal interaction, mostly in nonpolitical social settings.

Kwak, an assistant professor of communication studies, said that broadband users were more likely than narrowband users to know about entertainment or the personal lives of celebrities and personal scandals of politicians.

There was no difference, however, between broadband and narrowband users in their knowledge about politically significant matters, such as international conflicts and the political system, Kwak said.

"Broadband Internet tends to help its users improve their understanding of events and figures in the news, but the benefit seems to be limited," said Kwak, who wrote "To Broadband or Not to Broadband: The Relationship between High-speed Internet and Knowledge and Participation." The study looked at the possible effects of broadband Internet on various aspects of political and social engagement.

Increasing numbers of computer users are subscribing to broadband service, most through cable modem and DSL, which allows access to the Internet at a faster speed than narrowband service through a telephone modem. The number of high-speed lines for residential and small business subscribers more than tripled to 26 million in December 2003 from 7.8 million in June 2001, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

So what does this mean for your online social life? Ask the next few people who wink at you online what kind of connection they have to see if this research bears out in your own experience, and let us know what you find out.

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