[Air-l] viewing American class divisions through Facebook andMySpace

[Chadwick Andrew]

Hi,

Jason wrote: "Facebook's aesthetics embody a kind of functional
minimalism that appeals to a middle class sensibility (significantly
personalisation applications do not disturb the overall layout and
colour scheme)"

Could you explain precisely what you mean by that, and the evidence or
theorising that underlies it, particularly the part about the affinities
between social class and the design interface? It's intriguing, but
problematic.

Thanks,

Andy

---------------------------------
Dr Andrew Chadwick,
Head of Department,
Department of Politics & International Relations, 
Director, New Political Communication Unit,
Royal Holloway, 
University of London.
------------------------------------------------------
New Political Communication Unit: http://newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk
Associate Editor, Journal of Information Technology and Politics:
http://www.jitp.net
Department Pages:
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/politics-and-IR/about-us/chadwick
Book Site: http://www.andrewchadwick.com
...Yes, I know I have too many websites in my sig...


> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org 
> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jason Wilson
> Sent: 28 June 2007 05:18
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] viewing American class divisions through 
> Facebook andMySpace
> 
> Hi Jimmy and all, 
> 
> Points taken Jimmy, but there is more to go with arguments 
> about class, I think. 
> 
> Your point about people not necessarily wanting to flee 
> "people they don't like" may be warranted, but that doesn't 
> necessarily mean that people aren't fleeing *towards* where 
> "people like us" ("linked in", tech-literate, "creative") 
> gather. Saying that MySpace has bad customer service doesn't 
> account for the way in which different groups appear to be 
> gravitating towards one or another of the range of alternatives. 
> 
> According to comscore numbers here 
> http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/11516.asp (admittedly 
> these are a year old) 
> 
> - People 18-24 are 3 times more likely than the average 
> Internet user to
> visit Facebook.  
> 
> - People in households with an income over US$100,000 are
> 30% more likely than average to visit Facebook. 
> 
> - The slightly above
> average level of visitation from people with household incomes lower
> than US$25,000 is explained by the preponderance of users who are at
> college/university, who we can safely assume will inhabit a 
> significant
> proportion of $100K+ households in the future, and will get there more
> quickly than those without a University education.
> 
> Additionally, American teens seem to be going in large 
> numbers to Xanga, while MySpace continues to grow, attracting 
> an older demographic (the "late adopters"?).
> 
> Facebook's aesthetics embody a kind of functional minimalism 
> that appeals to a middle class sensibility (significantly 
> personalisation applications do not disturb the overall 
> layout and colour scheme). Facebook's privacy and networking 
> models mean that you are significantly less likely to have to 
> interact with people you don't know or like already. The 
> "tech-success" narrative, and the refusal to sell to Yahoo 
> appeal as a kind of modern entrepreneurial fable that 
> aspirational college-educated users are attracted to 
> participating in. The Murdoch-owned MySpace, by contrast, 
> might be seen as a narrative of Big & Old (& Unfashionable) 
> media capitalising on innovation. 
> 
> The marketing people, at least, are excited by the potential 
> that Facebook offers for reaching a higher-income user-base, 
> and ads on Facebook will cost you more: loads of links to 
> this effect here http://del.icio.us/search/?user=digital_white_flight
> 
> Cheers
> Jason Wilson
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
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