class division in facebook & myspace
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 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. 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 because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.
it looks like your social networking site of choice may not be value neutral. read more, here. this is a fascinating “study” about how the democratized internet itself is becoming socially stratified… loaded with insightful comments that ought to matter to anyone interested in building social bridges and closing “the gap.”
Good quote:
“Class divisions in the United States have more to do with social networks (the real ones, not FB/MS), social capital, cultural capital, and attitudes than income. Not surprisingly, other demographics typically discussed in class terms are also a part of this lifestyle division. Social networks are strongly connected to geography, race, and religion; these are also huge factors in lifestyle divisions and thus “class.”"
Funny enough, I think the initial attraction to me to join FB versus MySpace was the exclusive nature. MySpace is notorious for smurfs, stalkers, and other unsavory types… not to mention the large amounts of underage kids on the site despite the fact that registered users are supposed to be 15+. If I told you how many 5th grade students of mine were MySpace users, you’d be shocked.
The fact that FB used to required a .EDU e-mail tended to screen out a lot of people. Of course, you are correct in your observation that there does exist a social stratification: since college / university education is still largely restricted to a certain class and races of people, it follows that a social networking site based originally on college / university networks would mirror that stratification…