[Air-l] Social-networking article (Facebook, MySpace, Xanga)

[Alex Kuskis]

Here's another article on teen social networking, this time in
a British context...........Alex Kuskis

Show and tell online

Social networking sites have gone from being the next big thing to the thing 
itself. But, asks Sean Dodson, can they continue to hold the fickle 
attention of today's teens?

Thursday March 2, 2006
The Guardian

After decades of devotion, the British teenager is falling out of love with 
the television. For many, the old TV set is no longer the first thing they 
turn to after a day at school. Sadly for teachers, it's not always homework 
that kids are turning to as a substitute, but rather a group of fast-growing 
websites that let them watch - and communicate with - each other.
In the past 12 months, "social networking" has gone from being the next big 
thing to the thing itself. Last month, MySpace, the site that famously 
propelled the Arctic Monkeys to pop stardom, overtook the BBC website in 
terms of visitor numbers. Along with competing sites Bebo and Facebook, 
MySpace has formed one of the fastest growing sectors on the internet. 
Latest data from the internet traffic monitor Hitwise reports that visits to 
MySpace, the market leader, have grown sixfold year on year, while those to 
rivals Spaces.MSN.com are up 11-fold and to Bebo.com an amazing 61 times 
more.
To their users, social networking sites fill a number of functions: part 
diary, part shareable contacts book, part social club. For a generation of 
teenagers, they are increasingly becoming as important as ownership of a 
mobile phone. The fastest growing is Bebo.com, which, like its US 
counterpart Facebook.com, bases its membership around lists of schools and 
colleges, a kind of Friends Reunited for people who are still there. And 
teenagers are taking to Bebo quicker than they can pop a can of 
paprika-flavoured Pringles; there are 4 million in the UK alone.
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http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1720763,00.html