Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life

YOUTH, IDENTITY, AND DIGITAL MEDIA, David Buckingham, ed., The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008

Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2007-16

25 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2009

See all articles by Danah Boyd

Danah Boyd

Microsoft Research; Georgetown University; Data & Society Research Institute

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 3, 2007

Abstract

Social network sites like MySpace and Facebook serve as "networked publics." As with unmediated publics like parks and malls, youth use networked publics to gather, socialize with their peers, and make sense of and help build the culture around them. This article examines American youth engagement in networked publics and considers how properties unique to such mediated environments (e.g., persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences) affect the ways in which youth interact with one another. Ethnographic data is used to analyze how youth recognize these structural properties and find innovative ways of making these systems serve their purposes. Issues like privacy and impression management are explored through the practices of teens and youth participation in social network sites is situated in a historical discussion of youth's freedom and mobility in the United States.

Keywords: social network sites, teenagers, MySpace, networked publics

Suggested Citation

Boyd, Danah, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life (December 3, 2007). YOUTH, IDENTITY, AND DIGITAL MEDIA, David Buckingham, ed., The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008 , Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2007-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1518924

Danah Boyd (Contact Author)

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