Readings (10)

Online Social Networks

I was amused by Matthew Williams’ statement that “admitting you were a member of such sites in public was once as taboo as admitting to placing a personal ad in a newspaper.” I think the tide has turned a bit (especially for those of us who are still students) and it’s shocking if you’re not a member of, say, facebook. Still, the most common sentiment that I hear when people join facebook is something along the lines of “I’ve finally caved… peer pressure, man.”

danah boyd’s discussion of MySpace was informative, but not as interesting as her discussion of the differences in socio-economic status of people who join facebook versus those who join Myspace. I think it’s important to realize that these online social networks aren’t exclusive. If I need to find an apartment, I can go to Craiglist, if I want to find information on an obscure-ish band, I’d go to MySpace, if I want to find Harry Potter spoilers (and dear God, do I ever!), I’ll find a way into the labyrinths of livejournal.

I really liked this article which was one of those tagged with lis757. The different perspectives really highlighted some of the discrepancies in the ways that different people use the online social networks—one person’s sexual playground is another person’s professional networking tool. I’ve noticed this a little in facebook: the friend who has their resume loaded onto their profile versus the friend who uses the food fight application to throw pies at their friends and teases people about their sexual exploits by writing on his or her wall. I might be reluctant to have a future employer look me up (say, before an interview) not because I have written anything scandalous, but because my friends might have written something scandalous about me.