Eszter Hargittai's research finds that Facebook users are more likely to be male, educated, and white than MySpace users. Her blog post and the Times discussion.
These social networks are just revealing the deep separations that already exist between various groups in society. They aren't pulling us apart. We're already not talking to each other.
"We're already not talking to each other."
Good point -- to which I might add, "We're not listening to each other." Hence, the number of comments in the Times discussion that a) reiterate previous comments and b) demonstrate that the commenter hasn't read any of the research papers cited in the original post.
Deep sigh.
Posted by: Virago | July 11, 2009 at 10:13 PM
I was never a major user of MySpace, the way I am with Facebook. I have a ton of Facebook friends, however, who are neither white nor male (and some are not particularly educated). I sort of wonder if anyone is looking at this through a lens other than that of college students.
In my work life, I deal with folks who range from having service sector jobs to folks with professional training, and it seems to me that the digital divide is pretty minimal, among the younger set. I have Facebook friends who are women of color with a high school education who do work with their hands--as well as those who are white men with a college education who sit at a desk all day. Among older people, I think class is a better determinant of whether someone will be technically literate.
But there is a pretty big world out there of folks (mostly older than 40, in my experience) who just don't get the 'Internet is for fun' thing.
Posted by: landismom | July 16, 2009 at 09:16 AM