Social networking websites MySpace and Facebook are increasingly splitting along class lines, according to a US academic.
The sites, which allow users to make friends and share pictures and information about themselves, have become two of the most popular destinations on the internet. But Danah Boyd, a researcher at the University of California, says their populations are now dividing on the basis of social and economic backgrounds.
In a paper this week, Ms Boyd said typical Facebook users “tend to come from families who emphasise education and going to college. They are primarily white, but not exclusively”. MySpace, meanwhile, “is still home for Latino and Hispanic teens, immigrant teens” as well as “other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm”.
Hah, I’ll have to tell my white honor student and all her 10 zillion white MySpace friends that they’re on the wrong site!