Class division in social network sites

danah boyd wrote a passionate essay (blog entry) about socio-economic divisions in online communities and its relation to society. Summarized a bit bluntly: the jocks and preps use Facebook, while the punks and underdogs use MySpace. Instead of labelling those two groups “good” and “bad” boyd suggests (admittedly still problematic) “hegemonic” and “subaltern”. Especially interesting are the sections about military, shootings, and the overall state of society. A very interesting read.

via bubi in my chat window


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