Class Divisions between Facebook and Myspace
The following is a research analysis of a very interesting piece written by Dana Boyd in which she describes the class divisions that can be seen along the lines of Myspace and Facebook.
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Boyd, Danah. “Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace .” Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24, 2007.
In an online blog, the writer Danah Boyd writes an interesting article called “Viewing American class divisions though Facebook and Myspace” in which she describes the two main divisions in class as seen in online media and social networking sites, specifically Facebook and Myspace. Boyd explains that these two groups are called hegemonic and subaltern groups and she explains the definitions of these groups through a series of examples throughout her blog. Boyd begins by describes the hegemonic group as “the goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other “good” kids” and explains how they are “now going to Facebook…These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college”. She states that these hegemonic kids are more likely to use Facebook than Myspace because they like the look and feel of the website, versus the look on Myspace’s “trashy” appearance. This apparently “trashy” and crowded look of Myspace is what made many hegemonic kids and teenagers migrate to the Facebook era, a transition mostly from Myspace’s generation of use. According to Boyd, Myspace users belong to a group called subaltern kids, comprising of “Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, “burnouts,” “alternative kids,” “art fags,” punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn’t go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers”. Boyd describes that people of Myspace are often grouped into people who belong to the lower class culture and therefore are looked down upon by the Facebook users, or the hegemonic group. Similarly, Myspace users tend to isolate themselves from hegemonic groups because they feel it is unnecessary for them to indulge in such a different class culture.
Boyd’s blog post is very similar to my previous Tumblr blog post in which I talked about the differences between Myspace and Facebook and how they play into the different personalities of different people. I agree with Boyd in her description of how class differences can be seen from the use of different types of social networking sites. For example, in my blog I wrote about how the efficiency of Facebook is much different than the world of bling and HTML of Myspace, and I further explain the experiences of my own in migrating from the old Myspace culture to the new dominant Facebook world. I wrote about how my needs along with my tastes, as I grew from a girl to a woman, changed as I migrated from one online world to another. Boyd’s article states something similar, and she explains how the “then” users of Myspace are “now” using Facebook because they believe that Myspace is “so lame” as apposed to the professional and adult-styled appearance of Facebook. However, Boyd brings in the issue of class distinction in her blog, something that I failed to see the importance of. The class distinctions she has studied in her six months of research in online media, has shown her that a growing division of class and culture, not necessarily of income, but geography and often race, can be seen in the different types of media websites. She writes a must-read article about the progression of social networking sites of Myspace and Facebook and shows how they are progressing through the years as a mirror image of the class distinctions of real life.
