[Dabhand16]

Social sites reveal class divide

Fans of MySpace and Facebook are divided by much more than which music they like, suggests a study.
A six-month research project has revealed a sharp division along class lines among the American teenagers flocking to the social network sites.

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.

By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

Site-seeing

The conclusions are based on interviews with many teenage users of the social networking sites by PhD student Danah Boyd from the School of Information Sciences at UC Berkeley.

In a preliminary draft of the research, Ms Boyd said defining "class" in the US was difficult because, unlike many other nations, it did not map directly to income.

Instead, she said, class in the US was more about social life and networks - how people define themselves and who they define themselves with.

"Social networks are strongly connected to geography, race, and religion; these are also huge factors in lifestyle divisions and thus 'class'," she wrote.

Broadly, Ms Boyd found Facebook users tend to be white and come from families who are keen for children to get the most out of school and go on to college.


"This division is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values"
Danah Boyd

Characterising Facebook users she said: "They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities."
By contrast, the average MySpace teenager tends to come from families where parents did not go to college, she said.

Ms Boyd also found far more teens from immigrant, Latino and Hispanic families on MySpace as well as many others who are not part of the "dominant high school popularity paradigm".

"MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracised at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers," she said.

Teenage users of both sites have very strong opinions about the social network they do not use, she noted.

Ms Boyd was wary of drawing too many conclusions from her research and calling Myspace "bad" or Facebook "good" or condemning social networks out of hand.

She wrote: "This division is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values."

In some ways, Ms Boyd wrote, social networking sites are helping teenagers cope with the stresses of 21st Century life.

"Teens are using social network sites to build community and connect with their peers," she said. "And through it, they are showcasing all of the good, bad, and ugly of today's teen life."


Source: BBC

[Howard]

Sounds as if the lady has too much time on her hands.

[txbluebonnet]

There are other social sites, too, albeit some are designed to be "teenager free". Although it can't really compare to the MySpace and FaceBook b/c it is teenager free, I wonder if there have been studies of other social environments, such as Cherry Tap. Would they find that it also reflects "real life"????

Just curious if anyone else has too much time on their hands.

[Howard]

I'm not a fan of putting people into "classes." People have a habit of moving from one "class" to another. This person sounds like she may be a sociologist. I took one course of that in college and it was the biggest waste of my time I can think of. Sociologists are obsessed with pigeonholing people into groups and classes. The prof I had was still preaching Marxian class warfare. Like I said, what a waste.

[sejanus]

This person sounds like she may be a sociologist

Strewth! That's a bit strong isn't it? I mean, that's hardly something to call someone on the strength of one bit of writing. She may be something perfectly respectable, like a mass murderess or a director of communications for the Labour Party, for all you know.

[Dabhand16]

Originally Posted by sejanus

Strewth! That's a bit strong isn't it? I mean, that's hardly something to call someone on the strength of one bit of writing. She may be something perfectly respectable, like a mass murderess or a director of communications for the Labour Party, for all you know.

I'll bet she uses a Canon too.........

[Howard]

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to offend anyone, but that article yanked my chain. She attends UC Berkley and that explains everything. Berkley is radical heaven.