[Air-l] myspace and race

[danah boyd]

Sorry - i should clarify - i don't mean that there isn't diversity in  
users.  MySpace has more traction with youth from diverse backgrounds  
than any site on the web.  In the schools that i'm tracking, there's  
no racial differentiation in MySpace participation.  That said, of  
the kids who i've talked to who refuse to use the site, 100% are  
white (most come from wealthy backgrounds too... a handful view it as  
a political stance against Murdoch... but the number of intentional  
non-participants is relatively small).  Urban and suburban kids are  
more likely to participate than rural kids, but that's the only  
segmentation i've really seen. But when it comes to race and class,  
this is not stopping participation.  Working class kids are all on  
there - they log in at school mostly.  (Interestingly, the poorer  
schools are less likely to have the blocking devices on their  
technology so underprivileged kids can log in at school while rich  
kids can't.)  [All this said, i have no official numbers - only what  
i see on a daily basis... PEW is working on getting some formal  
numbers though.]

The lack of diversity that i'm noting is within a given network (on  
all levels).  Users' friends tend to use the same language,  
representation style, have the same music identification, and, on a  
performance level, read as the same race.  Homophily at work.  This  
probably says something significant about offline interracial  
friendships.  Take some of the schools that i'm following in Los  
Angeles and Oakland.  These schools are typically half Latino and  
half black.  If i look at the kids' profiles, the Latino kids all  
link to each other and the black kids all link to each other but  
there is very little interracial connections.

I hope that helps clarify.

As for the clunky interface... well, that's exactly why teens wanna  
be there.  It's their space, not adult space.  And all the better  
that adults can't figure it out.  <grin>

danah



On Mar 25, 2006, at 5:06 PM, radhika gajjala wrote:

> dana,
>
> I would suggest that the lack of diversity is mostly "performative" -
> in that - there ARE diverse users (not diverse enough of course - but
> then myspace is such a clunky interface anyway  - I wonder why we
> would want access there;-) - but you know what I mean)
>
> The percentage of racially diverse vs white may be of course still -
> majority white... cant say.
>
> But one particular user group my undergrad students and I are looking
> at are definitely from low income families and they are bi-racial and
> linguistically "diverse" as well.
>
> Of course - I also see that the "south asian" presence with its
> bollywood and remix music population following is there - but that's
> not necessarily what we mean by "race" and underprivileged youth. And
> the implications of this side by side with satellite TV and the South
> Asia packages (Sony, Z, star and so on) and whathisname media mogul
> having bought myspace ... will no doubt impact "race" and
> globalization in myspace ...
>
>
>
>
>> I know of none but would be very interested in this.  I am paying
>> attention to the (lack of) diversity in youth networks on these
>> sites.  For example, even in schools that are racially mixed, the
>> profiles people connect to on MySpace are very homogeneous.
>>
>> On Mar 24, 2006, at 7:36 PM, Greg Wise wrote:
>>
>>>  Hi folks,
>>>  Just following up on the myspace thread that bounced around here
>>>  last month: anyone know of any work regarding myspace and race? In
>>>  particular representation, self-presentation, etc. of race on
>>>  myspace (or similar sites). The article in the NYT a few weeks ago
>>>  on online self-portraits got me thinking about identity performance
>>>  and negotiation on such sites.
>>>
>>>  cheers,
>>>
>>>  Greg Wise
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>>
>> - - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - -
>> "taken out of context i must seem so strange"
>>
>> musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
>>
>>
>>
>>
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- - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - -
"taken out of context i must seem so strange"

musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts