Social NetworksDanah Boyd and Henry Jenkins gave an interview for MIT about MySpace and youth culture.
These sites play a key role in youth culture because they give youth a space to hang out amongst friends and peers, share cultural artifacts (like links to funny websites, comments about TV shows) and work out an image of how they see themselves. They also serve as digital publics, substituting for the types of publics that most adults took for granted growing up, but are now inaccessible for many young people – neighborhood basketball courts, malls, parks, etc. Youth are trying to map out a public youth territory for themselves, removed from adult culture. They are doing so online because their mobility and control over physical space is heavily curtailed and monitored.
Source:
Boyd, D. & Jenkins, H. (2006, May 26). MySpace and Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). MIT Tech Talk. Retrieved February 19, 2007, from http://www.danah.org/papers/MySpaceDOPA.html
More Social Network Resources
Doug Johnson, a columnist for Education World, has provided a list of “Seven Things All Adults Should Know About Social Networking.” Johnson gives a pragmatic summary of social networking sites, including the idea that simply blocking the sites from schools won’t solve any privacy or safety problems.
When Facebook started, it was restricted to university students and alumni, but it has since opened up registration to anyone. Facebook contains numerous smaller networks based on universities, high schools, or companies.
The article Learning Spaces: Social Networks and Virtual Worlds provides an overview of different types of social networks and ideas on how these networks can be used to promote learning.
If you’re interested in a social networking site that is more approachable for younger students, check out Club Penguin. Club Penguin is specifically aimed for children ages 8 to 14, but may appeal to a broader range as well. The safety and privacy features are more geared towards protecting younger students than sites like MySpace and Facebook.