28 June 2007
A recent study has indicated that users of social websites such as MySpace and Facebook are divided by much more than which music they like.
A six-month research project has revealed a sharp divide between social classes among the American teenagers flocking to the social network sites.
The research suggests those fans of Facebook tend to come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.
By complete contrast, fans of MySpace tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.
The study was conducted by interviewing many American teenagers who use social networking websites. PhD student Danah Boyd from the School of Information Sciences at UC Berkeley conducted the research.
Traditionally ’class’ in the US has been difficult to define as it hasn’t mapped directly to income in previous studies. Instead, class in the US was more about social life and networks - how people define themselves and who they define themselves with.
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