Thursday, October 11, 2007
Are Facebook and Myspace use indications of class?
"Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace " is a fascinating paper which one of my employees sent me today (we track web 2.0 services pretty carefully as leading indicators of trends that can affect the professional market - although this one probably will not). The report purports that users often choose one site or the other based on "class". The author, Danah Boyd, has researched teen use and changing trends by traveling around the US interviewing teens and found that:The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.
MySpace is still home for marginalized kids (i.e. Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm). These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school...
And she then draws a connection to a recent change in military policy:A month ago, the military banned MySpace but not Facebook. This was a very interesting move because the division in the military reflects the division in high schools. Soldiers are on MySpace; officers are on Facebook. Facebook is extremely popular in the military, but it's not the SNS of choice for 18-year old soldiers, a group that is primarily from poorer, less educated communities. They are using MySpace. The officers, many of whom have already received college training, are using Facebook. The military ban appears to replicate the class divisions that exist throughout the military.
Could this be the case? I wonder if there is enough scientific data available, rather than anecdotal evidence, to substantiate this.
0 comments:
Post a Comment