Social networks and teens. . .these two topics go hand-in-hand in present day. Teens spend large amounts of time ‘hanging-out’ on social network sites (SNS) like MySpace and Facebook.  But why?  Boyd  (2008) discusses this in her article, Why Youth *heart* Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. She examines who is on SNS and why they are there.

I have always been interested in the relationship between culture and socio-economic status as it relates to youth and education. Boyd (2008) found that urban Black teens are just as likely to join a social network site as White teens from wealthier backgrounds; however, their time on these sites may vary due to limited accessibility to the internet.  After reading this I was left with the question of accessibility and participation from other groups Boyd failed to mention; for example whether poor rural students of any race/ethnicity, Latino students, youth who live along the U.S. boarder, or immigrant non-native English speakers participate as much as Black and White youth she mentioned?

Prior to reading this article, I had not truly considered the reasons teens flock to SNS. Boyd’s  (2008) explanations made complete sense to me. Public spaces which historically were places for teens to socialize have more recently become off-limits due to public fear. Places such as drive-in movie theatres and malls either do not exist anymore or have limited teen’s access to be with one another; in addition, teen’s lack mobility since many cannot drive which also limits where they can go. With these restrictions in place, teens have turned to the internet which, for many, is readily available at home, school and with smart-phones, anywhere they have phone service. Teens can socialize and as Boyd (2008) found ‘hang-out’ or ‘lurk’ with their friends on sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Furthermore, most teens state they are online because everyone else is; however, there is a small contingent of students who opt-out of SNS because everyone else is there (Boyd, 2008). The majority of teens online are there because they do not want to be the outsider or miss something important that could affect their social status. In effect, it appears that social status related to school has extended itself beyond the classroom and hallways and onto these social network sites.  I am very curious to see what the future holds for SNS and teens.  

Here are two websites related to this topic.  The first is simply statistic from Facebook on who its users are.  The second relates more directly to teens online and the demographics for this.  I find this interesting and thought you might too. 

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html

Boyd, D. (2008). Why youth heart social networking sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth Identity and Digital Media (pp. 119-142). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.