Does Facebook and Myspace cause a Separation of Social Classes?
Lately in class, we have been discussing the impacts of social networking sites (SNS) on our lives. We have had debates, readings, and presentations which all highlighted a different aspect of these sites. Although we may take it for granted, SNS have provided us with an endless supply of information and human (eh kinda) interaction.
Two of the biggest SNS are Facebook and MySpace, which also happen to be two of most visited sites on the internet. Created over the past decade, these sites have had millions and millions of users create profiles using their services.
An interesting debate has been sparked by Danah Boyd, who has written an article entitled Viewing American Class Divisions through Facebook and Myspace, and begs the question: what demographics are using each service?
As it turns out, there may be a correlation between the users of each MySpace and Facebook, and the social status or class that they are in. After a lot of research and surveys, Boyd explains that "The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook" while "MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm."
I personally enjoy the writing style of the article, which is filled with unapologetic take-it-or-leave it statements. The author knows she is going to offend people, and she doesn't seem to mind doing it. I definitely agree with most of the viewpoints presented in the article. You could say that I was the stereotypical "Facebook kid" in high school, as the author described. MySpace never really hit my high school that hard at all, given the fact that it was centered in an upper-middle class, suburban, white-dominated community.
Does this mean that whether using Facebook and MySpace determines your social class? I would say that there is no causation, but you could find patters to show correlation.
Two of the biggest SNS are Facebook and MySpace, which also happen to be two of most visited sites on the internet. Created over the past decade, these sites have had millions and millions of users create profiles using their services.An interesting debate has been sparked by Danah Boyd, who has written an article entitled Viewing American Class Divisions through Facebook and Myspace, and begs the question: what demographics are using each service?
As it turns out, there may be a correlation between the users of each MySpace and Facebook, and the social status or class that they are in. After a lot of research and surveys, Boyd explains that "The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook" while "MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm."
I personally enjoy the writing style of the article, which is filled with unapologetic take-it-or-leave it statements. The author knows she is going to offend people, and she doesn't seem to mind doing it. I definitely agree with most of the viewpoints presented in the article. You could say that I was the stereotypical "Facebook kid" in high school, as the author described. MySpace never really hit my high school that hard at all, given the fact that it was centered in an upper-middle class, suburban, white-dominated community.
Does this mean that whether using Facebook and MySpace determines your social class? I would say that there is no causation, but you could find patters to show correlation.
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You are, and will always be, the stereotypical facebook guy. Way to be a tool Z. Way to be.