Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace

In her article, Danah Boyd discusses the impact of socieconomic status with the choice to use MySpace or Facebook among teens of different social classes. I found her study to be very insightful, and had never thought about this divide before within the context of my own reasons for choosing to use Facebook only and not MySpace. As Boyd mentions, I also feel that Facebook is 'safer' than MySpace. It seems more organized, professional, and of course has the basic options for privacy as do other SNS sites. To me, MySpace is for kids, not adults/grad students! I have looked at it briefly and find it to be too busy, unorganized and simply not very appealing. Therefore, I do not have a MySpace page. I have heard that it is a great place for bands to promote themselves, for alternative kids to show their creativity, etc... That is simply not what I am looking for in a social networking site. I guess I am one of the "good" kids.

Joining facebook while it was still the "college" thing to do, I have a different perspective from teens today who are joining either MySpace, Facebook or both. Facebook was the only option for me, it was what my friends were doing- and in fact I wasn't on Facebook until my friends created an account for me and convinced me to use it. I have now used it for everything from gathering addresses for my wedding, organizing birthday parties, to wasting time at work!

As librarians, the key concepts to take away from this article are knowing where our audience is online. Public libraries may focus on MySpace if they are in poorer areas, diverse communities etc... where teens are more likely to favor MySpace. Academic libraries may want to get involved with Facebook to connect with college students simply because this is often the SNS of choice.

I particularly liked the following statement in the article,
"Teens are using social network sites to build community and connect with their peers. They are creating publics for socialization. And through it, they are showcasing all of the good, bad, and ugly of today's teen life. Much of it isn't pretty, but it ain't pretty offline either. Still, it makes my heart warm when I see something creative or engaged or reflective. There is good out there too" (Boyd).
With all of the other stresses of teen life, teens turn to SNS to connect with other teens! Librarians must accept this trend and become part of this online world.