Il lavoro freelance : reputazione e capitale sociale nell’era del “lavoro digitale”

This article presents the results of a qualitative research on freelance work in the context of the professions of the knowledge economy conducted between 2012 and 2013 across Milan and London. The research explores the practices of work in this sector, to enquire about the ways in which digital technologies and social media intermediate social relations in a context where networking and personal contacts are determinant aspects for professional success. The study demonstrates how digital technologies are now essential instruments of work for a freelancer not only as tools for self-promotion but as intermediaries of value. This occurs thanks to the central role of reputation as “digital social capital” and cultural conception of value within these professional networks. Reputation, traditionally conceived as an intangible asset, is now made approximable by social media such that this emerges to be the source for the establishing of trust among professionals who increasingly work at a distance.