One of the controversies surrounding Facebook is that they have been unwilling to open the incredibly valuable social science data available in the interchanges among 350 million people around the globe. Now, this internal analysis shows that the ethnic distribution of FB users is said to reflect the ethnic mix of the US Census data. The article goes on to show how this type of data can be used in economically harmful ways, using the case of “redlining,” which occurred in the 1960s. Look for more pressure on FB to help us understand what is happening with social media. This information could be very useful in understanding the interactions, thoughts, ideals, and realities of college-age students (and the analysis could be done anonymously, reliably, and well).
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It’s interesting that Facebook’s analysis says that its client base has the same demographics as the US as a whole, while other research says that “Facebook [use] goes off the charts in the upscale suburbs.” See the article at http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/13/social.networking.class/index.html?iref=allsearch
This 2nd article asserts that there is a distinct class divide in social networking where Facebook users are, on the average, better educated and more affluent than MySpace users. Given the inequalities wealth distribution, I don’t see how these two studies align.
Still, Facebook and MySpace are no doubt the greatest databanks available for studying social networking, if access can be granted in a way that preserves the privacy of the users.
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Dwight, I agree that the two major SNS sites appear to appeal to different demographics. It would be nice to see how FB did their analysis of the demographics, wouldn’t it?