apophenia :: myspace

July 25, 2007

re: MySpace and sex offenders

Regarding the report that MySpace has obliterated 29,000 accounts that are linked to registered sex offenders, please read Stephanie Booth. Her analysis is spot-on and I couldn't say it any better than she did. So go read it already.

For reasons that I cannot explain, the Attorneys General have far better PR machines than MySpace. What you are seeing in the press is what the AGs have spun out in their ongoing efforts to force legislation to ban youth from social sites. This is about throwing out numbers that will make people feel afraid; it is not about trying to paint an accurate portrayal of what's happening. The construction and perpetuation of fear from our most powerful lawyers in the nation makes me sick. (Then again, the most powerful one keeps lying to Congress so what should I expect?)

Category: myspace

Tags: predators

   

Posted by zephoria at 12:52 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

February 9, 2007

DOPA is back under a new title

While i was off getting my eyes zapped, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced a new bill into the Senate called "Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act" (S49). It has all of DOPA in it and then some. This time, it's squashed between some small changes to child porn legislation (upping the fines namely) and restrictions on the sale of children's personal information for marketing purposes. It's just as infuriating and i can't stomach the idea of going through these discussions again. God, i'd make a terrible politician.

As Marianne Richmond says, this DOPA, Jr. is definitely DOPA Extra and just as dopey as the last one. Le sigh.

Anyone have any good ideas on how to make this one go away? When will people realize that this is a bad idea?

Category: myspace

Tags: dopa

   

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October 10, 2006

comScore misinterprets data: MySpace is *NOT* gray

Read the ComScore press release. Completely. Read the details. They have found that the unique VISITORS have gotten older. This is _not_ the same thing as USERS. A year ago, most adults hadn't heard about MySpace. The moral panic has made it such that many US adults have now heard of it. This means that they _visit_ the site. Do they all have accounts? Probably not. Furthermore, MySpace has attracted numerous bands in the last year. If you Google most bands, their MySpace page is either first or second; you can visit these without an account. People of all ages look for bands through search.

Why is Xanga far greater in terms of young people? Most adults haven't heard of it. It's not something that comes up high in search for other things. Facebook's bimodal population pre-public launch shows that more professors/teachers are present than i thought (or maybe companies are more popular than i thought? or maybe comScore's data is somehow counting teens/college students as 35-54...).

Can someone tell me exactly how comScore measures this? Is it based on the known age of the person using a given computer? Remember that many teens are logging in through their parent's computer in the living room. Is it based on reported age? I kinda doubt it but the fact that there are more 100+ year olds on MySpace than are living should make people think about reported data. Is it based on phone interviews? How do they collect it? This isn't really parseable into English.

My problem is that all of these teen sites show a heavy usage amongst 35-54. I cannot for the life of me explain how Xanga is 36% 35-54. There's just *no* way. I don't get how the data is formulated but it seems like an odd pattern across these sites to see a drop in 25-34 and a rise in 35-54. Older folks aren't suddenly blogging on Xanga. So what gives? My hunch is that comScore's metrics are consistently counting teens as 35-54 across all sites. My hypothesis is that because comScore is measuring per computer and teens are using their parent's computer, comScore can't tell the difference between a teen user and a parent user. If so, maybe all this is telling us is that parents have definitely listened to the warnings over the last year and are now making their teens access these sites through their computer?

Finally, when we talk about data, we also need to separate Visitors from Active Users from Accounts. The number of accounts is not the same as the number of users. The number of visitors is not the same as the number of users.

All this said, there is no doubt that more older people are creating accounts. Parents are told that they should check in on their kids. Police officers, teachers, marketers... they are all logging in to look at the youth. Is that the same as meaningful users? Some yes, some no.

From my qualitative experience, the vast majority of actual users are 14-30 with a skew to the lower end. Furthermore, the majority of the accounts are presenting themselves as 14-30. To confirm the latter (which is easier), i did a random sample of 100 profiles with UIDs over 50M (to address the "last year" phenomenon). What i found was:

• 26 are under 18
• 45 are 18-30 (with a skew to the lower)
• 10 are over 30 but under 70
• 1 is over 70 (but looks less than 18)
• 6 are bands
• 11 are invalid or deleted
• 1 is complete fake characters (explained in descript)

A few more things of note...

• 18 have private profiles
  
• Of those over 30, only 2 has more than 2 friends (one has 3 friends; one has 5)
  

This account data hints that the general assumption that approximately 25% of users are minors is correct. Of the remaining, the bulk is under 30. Qualitatively, i'm seeing the most active use from those under 21. Given account practices, i don't think that i'm off in what i'm seeing.

I do suspect that MySpace is holding strong at being primarily for younger people but that older folks have definitely been checking it out a LOT more. Still, i'm still suspicious of the fact that 35-54 are common across all youth sites. I'd really like to see comScore's data on something that we can check. Maybe LiveJournal?

(I'd really really really love to be proven wrong on this. If anyone has data that can provide an alternate explanation to the comScore numbers, please let me know!)

Update: Fred Stutzman and i just jockeyed back and forth to find something we could agree on wrt the comScore numbers. Here are some ways of making sense of the data of VISITORS:

• Xanga is more of a teen-flavored site than MySpace, Facebook or Friendster
• Facebook is more of a college-flavored site than MySpace, Friendster or Xanga
• Friendster is more of a 20/30-something flavored site than MySpace, Facebook or Xanga
• Of users going to these four sites, MySpace does not swing to any one group; it draws people of all ages to visit the site.
• A greater percentage of adults (most likely parents) visit MySpace than any of the other social sites

This is all fine and well and confirms most intuition. The problem is that what we CANNOT confirm via this data is that more adults visit any of these sites than minors. Again, intuitive but the comScore data seems to indicate that adults visit each of sites more than their key population. This is really visible in their "total internet" users which seems to suggest that the vast majority of visitors to all of these social sites are adults. I cannot find a single person who works for one of these companies that believes this.

I've spoken to numerous folks since i posted last nite. Most believe that comScore gets this data by running a program on people's computers. Young people are supposed to use a separate account than their parents. This data seems to indicate that comScore is wrong in assuming that people will do so. Most minors probably use their parent's account to check these social sites. So, if we assume that, Xanga is obscenely a teen site, Facebook probably has nearly as many high school users as college users and MySpace swings young but is used by a wider variety of age groups than most social sites.

Finally, it's all nice and well that Fox Interactive spokespeople confirm this data but i've watched over and over as FIM has confirmed or said things that were patently untrue in public. I don't know if this is because FIM (the parent of MySpace) doesn't know what's going on on MySpace or if it's because they don't care whether or not they are accurate publicly. I don't honestly believe that FIM has any clue about the age of its unique visitors. They know the purported age of people who have accounts and it would be patently false to say that 35-54 dominates account holders.

Frankly, i'm uber disappointed with comScore but even more disappointed with all of the press and bloggers who ran with the story that MySpace is gray without really looking at the data. This encourages inaccurate data and affects the entire tech industry as well as policy makers, advertisers, and users. I'm horrified that AP, Slashdot, Wall Street Journal, and numerous respectable bloggers are just reporting this as truth and speaking about it as though this is about users instead of visitors. C'mon now. If we're going to fetishize quantitative data, let's at least use a properly critical eye.

Category: myspace

Tags: data youth

   

Posted by zephoria at 6:12 PM | Comments (24) | TrackBack (0)

September 8, 2006

welcome to LA

When i heard about the ForBiddeN Playboy launch party, i decided that would be a perfect opportunity to see LA at some of its weirdest. I conned Xeni into coming with me to see the MySpace porn queen diva at her best. In responsem, she conned me into going to the Suicide Girls 5th year anniversary party (y'know - the one that Paris Hilton was at and got arrested for a DUI afterwards... and no, i didn't manage to notice Paris). Xeni has a *fantastic* writeup of our adventures so i won't bother repeating them here. (Also, definitely see her ForBiddeN-centric write-up at Wired).

Instead, i want to offer a few extra thoughts. First, and obviously (from my POV), Hollywood LA is *WEIRD*. I knew i didn't have the clothes to prance around at this events so i chose the safe route: wear all black. I couldn't help but giggle when i heard girls commenting on other girls' purses and clothes pointing out brand names. One girl's fake breasts stood straight out Tank Girl style and i couldn't help but stare as she shuffled on mega-high heels and her boobs didn't bounce a bit. And wow was everyone on the look at me plan. I've never seen so many people stand around and dance in a way that was meant to be photographed. Luckily, Xeni and i were on a "mission" which at least made me stick around observing for a while without feeling totally awkward.

Second, i'm completely fascinated by how ForBiddeN managed to use MySpace to propel herself into the land-o-fame. While her approach was very DIY, she was lapping up and asserting the traditional construction of fame (complete with meatheads who bullied me away from her because i was not VIP). There were fans lurking around everywhere, hoping to be noticed. The crowd outside begging to get in was impressive given the situation. So what's next for Miss Playboy? Acting lessons. Glad to know that the desire to reach traditional celebrity-hood is alive and well.

Finally, i'm still fascinated by all of the different publics within MySpace. People definitely get their panties in a wad over porn queens' presence in MySpace but the thing is that it's just one small aspect of the site. Yet, it's the extremely self-promotional aspect, the side that wants the glitz and glam that the camera has to offer, the people that desperately want your attention. And the funny thing is that they get it. Personally, i think that i'm done with the diva side - i'm much more comfortable with the awkward teens who are just hanging out. Hell, i'm even more comfortable with the missionaries who have been trying to tell me about Jesus. Of course, that's not a media spectacle.

Category: myspace

Tags: ForBiddeN celebrity

   

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July 27, 2006

DOPA passed

When i expressed my concern over DOPA, everyone told me i was being paranoid, that it would never pass, that it was too absurd. DOPA passed. By a 410-15 vote. Dear god.

For those who want to know more about MySpace and DOPA, please check out the discussion between me and Henry Jenkins.

Category: myspace

   

Posted by zephoria at 7:42 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

July 10, 2006

Study shows fear of MySpace predators is overblown

Prof. Larry Rosen, a psych prof over at Cal State, has just released data on MySpace and predators showing that the fear is completely overblown (duh). The press release is here. A longer report is here. Some of the findings are:

• Only 7% of those teens interviewed were ever approached by anyone with a sexual intent and nearly all of them simply ignored the person and blocked him from their page.
• Two-thirds of the parents were sure that there were many sexual predators on MySpace, while only one-third of the teenagers shared this concern.
• When asked about media coverage, 66% of the parents felt that it was either understated or close to the truth.
• Conversely, 58% of the teens felt it was vastly overblown.

(Tx David)

Category: myspace

   

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May 25, 2006

MySpace and Deleting Online Predators Act (with Henry Jenkins)

Henry Jenkins (Co-Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT) and i were interviewed by Sarah Wright of the MIT News Office about the proposed Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). Although they only used a fraction of our interview in the MIT Tech Talk, we decided to publish the extended version online. We feel as though our response provides valuable information for parents, legislators, journalists and technologists. It summarizes a lot of what both Henry and i have been trying to get across when interviewed by the media.

Discussion: MySpace and Deleting Online Predators Act

Please, feel free to share this. You are also welcome to re-publish this interview (or portions of this interview) with proper attribution.

Category: myspace

Tags: DOPA predators HenryJenkins

   

Posted by zephoria at 11:43 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

May 2, 2006

NPR's "On Point"

I was on NPR this morning with Doug Rushkoff, an Illinois detective, Saul Hansell (NYTimes) and a drummer from a band that has a profile. Needless to say, the topic was MySpace, but it was a much more balanced conversation than the typical coverage thus far. We talked about teens, bands, Murdoch, etc. I even got my own profile exposed on the air. For those who want to listen, there's a stream and podcast online.

One of the things that made me smile is that P!nk's "Stupid Girls" is one of the transition songs. Yesterday, in prep for the piece, they asked me about music consumption on MySpace. I talked about bands getting their word out and about how people were putting up videos. I mentioned P!nk's latest video and how it made me happy to see that message spread. So, it made me quite joyous to see that come across on air as well.

On a different note, one listener wrote me and encouraged me to get public speaking training. ::sigh:: I'm still sad that i could never get into Barbara Tannenbaum's speech training class back at Brown. I *know* that i sound ridiculous when i speak, but i've never known how to solve this problem. I just avoid listening to myself. So, does anyone have a suggestion for getting speech training?

Category: myspace

Tags: npr

   

Posted by zephoria at 8:54 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)

April 20, 2006

is MySpace safe for predators?

Things on MySpace have taken a funny twist. At first, the media was all about the harm predators on MySpace could do. Yet, in the last month, the media has taken a new angle and is now reporting stories about how law enforcement has used MySpace to lure out predators and take a bite out of all sorts of other crimes. While Dateline's perverted justice reports poorly convey the likelihood that teens will respond to predators, they do show just how stupid predators are about believing that they are talking to teens. Following this same model, LAPD and other police groups have been logging on, pretending to be sexy 14 and 15 year olds and happily responding to all sexual predators who approach them, without making their profiles private. I've lost count of how many predators have been lured out by these raids. Of course, my favorite is Brian Doyle, a high-ranking homeland security official.

I find this turn of events really cool because no cop could pretend to be a 14-year old and go see a priest or turn up in a school to see if they'd get molested. Online, they can! Cops: 1, Predators: 0. People often tell me that online worlds make it easier for predators to find kids, that they couldn't lure kids in otherwise. Sadly, the arrests have showed us that this too isn't true. So many of the people who have been arrested have been pediatricians, teachers, rabbis, etc. :-( They have access to kids and i don't even wanna think about how many they've fondled. Luckily, the online arrests are stopping them both online and offline! I hope that the cops keep it up.

While predators have been arrested, i've stopped hearing about teens getting themselves into trouble. At this point, MySpace is safer for teens than for predators! This makes me smile. If anything positive can come out of all of this moral panic predator hype, it will be an increase in predator arrests and a decrease in the frequency in which predators reach out to youngins for fear that they might be cops. Predator arrests are making the world safer for teens everywhere. Tis a much better approach than asking teens to go further underground. MySpace is so much safer than the AOL/Usenet/BBS world of my day. I'm super glad to see both law enforcement and the folks at MySpace work to rid the world of predators rather than trying to stop online interaction. I really really hope that parents and legislators follow suit.

Of course, teens still do stupid stuff on the site. They bully each other, put up risque photos of themselves without realizing that teachers are watching, spread gossip, etc. There are also quite a few teens who are trying to get dates with folks in their early 20s, even when that's illegal. But, for all of the fear of predators, things don't seem to be getting worse.

Unfortunately, though, lying also appears to be on the rise. The problem isn't the predators. With parents banning participation or stalking their kids' profiles, teens are being smart. They're creating new profiles and lying through their teeth. ::sigh:: An entire generation adept at lying to cope with super publics and fear of mom. (Of course, this is precisely what has saved my ass from the ghosts of Usenet past - mommy fear stopped me from using my own name and now you can't find those old posts!)

On a related note, i want to take a moment to discuss Justin Berry. For those who don't know he is, read the NYTimes article. Make sure you read the ENTIRE article. Seriously. I'm really stoked that he's been standing up to Congress for how bad law enforcement is around child porn. That said, i'm a bit concerned that folks think that what happened to him can happen to anyone. There's no doubt that he got himself way in over his head and that people took advantage of him. But the worst part is that his own father took the worst advantage of him, really pushing it over the edge to pimp him out, drug him up and make certain that the cash kept flowing. Prior to his father's involvement, he wasn't having sex on camera, he wasn't doing cocaine, he wasn't having sex with the men who who paid for his cams. He went to his father when he realized that he had gotten in over his head. Rather than helping him get out, his father pushed him down further. This sickens me beyond any of the webcam stuff. While we're going after predators, can we please please please go after the sick parents who are molesting and taking advantage of their children too? This part of the story gets too little attention, but most molested children in this country are abused by the hands of their own family members.

Category: myspace

Tags: predators

   

Posted by zephoria at 12:02 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)

March 30, 2006

tonite on O'Reilly Factor

I just finished taping a segment for tonight's O'Reilly Factor talking about MySpace. I am actually surprised at how calm the conversation was. Relatively controversy free. Of course, it's still about the scary side, but i think it came out OK. O'Reilly even introduced the town square metaphor for me, helping me explain that teens are doing what they've always done in public spaces.

Anyhow, if anyone watches it, tell me how it came out since i won't get a chance to see it live.

Update:

I still haven't seen the show, but some folks took pictures and put them up on Flickr which lets me at least see what i looked like (cuz i didn't get to see anything during filming). Apparently i'm a cultural anthropologist! I don't quite know how i got that label, but it is indeed an ist! Anyhow, i'm really rather humored by all of this. My mother, brother, aunt and grandparents are equally humored. I managed to survive one of the most conservative and controversial TV figures unscathed. Who would've guessed?

Update 2: I just put a copy of my segment up on You Tube. Enjoy!

Category: myspace

   

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March 29, 2006

the problem with firehoses

In a bulletin on MySpace, Tom Anderson wrote a very simple message:

it's interesting to see how people are using myspace to organize for political causes. :) there was a report on NPR about it today

He pointed the flood to NPR. Two minutes later:

NPR.org is currently unavailable due to technical difficulties, but we are currently working to restore service.

I feel bad for the tech admins over at NPR. But i have to admit that it's kinda funny how fast a MySpace link can destroy a big website.

Category: myspace

   

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March 28, 2006

MySpace, HR 4437 and youth activism

For good reason, many Americans are outraged by HR 4437, a House bill that will stiffen the penalties around illegal immigration. Over the weekend, protests began with over 500,000 people taking to the streets on Saturday. Online, teens wrote bulletin board posts on MySpace, encouraging their peers to speak out against the bill. On Monday, instigated through MySpace postings, thousands of teens across the country walked out of school and marched in protest. In Los Angeles alone, 36,000 students walked out and took to the streets. Throughout the country, thousands of teens walked out in protest.

I am in awe of what these students did. As a population, teens are silenced by society, ineligible to vote. And yet, they took to the streets to stand up for what they believe in. They used the digital public to rally each other, to spread information and encouragement even though most knew they faced disapproving schools. They stood in solidarity, speaking out for an oppressed population that resides in this country. How amazing is that?

What disappoints me the most is how school officials, law enforcement and the press handled the situation. We bitch about how young people are not politically engaged, but when they speak out for something that hegemonic society disapproves of, they are slapped down. Ah, the irony.

Public officials and school administrators spoke out against the students' actions. Quoting these figures, the press gave the impression that administrators were concerned for the safety of their students. The discussions on MySpace painted a different picture as students discussed how schools would be docked $50 for each student who did not attend. In admonishing the students, administrators told the press that kids should return to school where they can have conversations about immigration in a "productive" way. The tone was quite condescending, arguing that a school day is more important than this political act. When LA Mayor Villaraigosa spoke to the young protesters, he said: "You've come today, you registered your commitment to your families, your opposition to the Sensenbrenner legislation, but it's time to go back to school." I am particularly bothered by Villaraigosa's statements given his activist history and stance on immigrants.

In some towns, teens were charged with truancy for participating in the protest. Many students are faced with detentions and other punishments for their participation.

And people wonder why teens don't engage politically.....

Of course, what is most depressing is how the press covered the story. The first coverage i heard was from NPR where they had soundbytes of youth stumbling, trying to explain why they were protesting. The coverage made them look stupid and naive and the commentator talked about how the youth were uninformed.

Now, not all of the protesting youth fully understood what they were speaking out against. Yet, most did. At the very least, they understood that something was gravely wrong about the bill. Yet, many students were quite informed. Articulate students spoke about how the bill represented a form of racist oppression that would permit racial profiling. Other spoke about the fundamental problems with the economic system, about how Mexicans are a critical labor force that is systematically oppressed. Other kids talked about how their parents came to this country to give them a chance. They crafted banners and posters, brought flags to signify the diversity of cultures that people came from, chanted about Cesar Chavez and human rights.

And still, the press talked about how the students were just looking for a day off school. Almost every story covered that aspect. There is no doubt that some students were looking for exactly that. Then again, there were plenty of adults protesting the war so that they didn't have to go to work. Yet, the news never talked about truant adults.

By trivializing the youths' participation, the press failed to capture the significance of this political act. How long has it been since so many students took a public stance? Has it been since Vietnam?

What is gained by belittling the students, punishing their act, and pooh-poohing their engagement with the public sphere? Sadly, this is yet-another act of ageist oppression meant to silence the youth when they stand for something that contradicts hegemonic values.

.....

One of the things that really bothers me about how this story played out concerns the issue of race and class. I wonder how a protest would be handled if privileged white kids all took to the streets backed by their parents. By listening to these teens speak out, it is clear that anti-Mexican sentiments are running high in this country.

The issue of illegal immigrants is raw with racism and injustice. On one hand, we are a land of immigrants (who decimated the native population). On the other, we have a fucked-up attitude about who has the right to be here. And that does not include people who come to do manual labor or people who speak a language that threatens English dominance.

To complicate matters, a huge portion of the economy of the southwest and California depends on illegal immigrants. Who picks the strawberries that you eat? Who works in the meat factories? Who cleans the toilets? How often do officials look the other way during harvest only to violently deport the immigrants once they are no longer needed? I often hear people bitch about how illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans and use up our precious tax money. Of course, these people fail to recognize that most Americans refuse to do the jobs that illegal immigrants do and that this population deserves some dignity and access to resources for what they contribute to this society.

I'm quite curious what will happen to privileged society if all illegal immigrants are deported. Will there be a food shortage? How much will the cost of everything rise?

Unfortunately, i doubt that this bill will do anything to help the people who are the backbone of American manual labor. I doubt it will improve labor conditions and it certainly won't improve race relations. This is quite unfortunate, because i definitely don't think that the current approach to immigrants is just. Where is Cesar Chavez when you need him?

.........

Update: NPR has a great short piece on the issue of students walking out.

It's actually really good to hear the principal in this segment talk about her conflicted feelings - she makes it very clear that she needs to keep the students in school for the money (Fresno loses $30 a day for each absent student). What adminstrators are offering students as an alternative (write letters to your representatives) is not nearly as empowering as walking out. IMHO, the students aren't stupid - they know that walking out of school will get the press attention and make the issue far more visible than writing letters. They also know that doing it on a school day instead of on a weekend will make it very clear that youth care and that they aren't just there because of their parents. They were written out of the stories of Saturday's protests (even though they were very present). By making their own, they are saying loud and clear that this isn't acceptable to the younger generation.

Category: myspace

Tags: politics immigrants Mexico racism

   

Posted by zephoria at 10:02 PM | Comments (106) | TrackBack (0)

March 1, 2006

the disappearance of two girls

It's been a weird week in the world of MySpace fear and i actually had the opportunity to watch a full cycle. On February 15, Alexis Beyer and Alexandra Dimarco disappeared and their parents went to the media to find them. They were completely and utterly convinced that they were abducted because of their use of MySpace. Beyer's mother went so far as to say, "if I'm wrong about this whole thing, I'm willing to become the laughingstock of the city." When folks at MySpace got wind of what was going on, they contacted the police to help in any way possible. Through IP logs, they found that the girls had not logged in for many days before their disappearance. Their profiles were filled with information about how they loved each other; they marked themselves as bisexual. The police were convinced that they simply ran away, angering their mothers. The mothers were scheduled to appear on numerous national TV shows when the two girls were found. They had run away. One came back voluntarily but the other was brought back forcibly.

Nothing has been written in the media exclaiming that the teens are safe.

Nothing has been written in the media to correct the link to MySpace.

Interesting.

Problematic.

I'm curious by what i don't know. Did the mothers truly believe that it was MySpace or did they believe that screaming foul play due to MySpace would make the media broadcast their teens' faces? If the teens didn't log in for a week before their disappearance, can we assume that they were blocked from accessing the site by their parents? Dimarco's mom indicated that she kept her daughter off her blog because older men would contact her, noting that her daughter would log in whenever possible on other computers. Reading between the lines of what i know, things don't add up.

This makes me sad on many levels. My sad suspicion is that those kids are hurting and if one of them had to be brought home forcibly, i'm guessing she's hurting pretty badly. I'm sad because i think that the mothers are either clueless of or the cause of the hurt; i'm hoping the former, but in either case, they probably don't have a close relationship. And i'm sad by the media and the ongoing demonization of youth public places, particularly MySpace.

Many teens are frustrated by the press' account of their behavior, but they have no voice. They are frustrated by their parents' fear, but they have no power. Parents are scared, and their fear is misguided. There are more actions against minors in San Francisco on a daily basis than there have ever been in the 3-year history of MySpace. More and more cases are failing to pan out. Yet, there are more kids on MySpace than in any single state. I wish i knew how to reach out to parents and say, "It's OK... your kids will be OK... just teach them trust and love." In statistical terms, MySpace is safer than going to school. It is safer than being in a car with your parents. It is safer than going to the mall. And yet, we are more scared because we don't understand it and we're afraid. This makes me so sad because this kind of fear is anxiety producing and culturally dangerous. :-(

Category: myspace

   

Posted by zephoria at 8:45 PM | Comments (27) | TrackBack (1)

February 19, 2006

AAAS presentation on MySpace data

Today, i did my first proper presentation of the data i've been collecting on MySpace. "Identity Production in a Networked Culture" looks at how youth use MySpace for socialization, identity production, and hanging out. In particular, i investigate how and why youth are (re)creating a public in digital space. I've uploaded a rough crib of the 15 minute presentation that i gave there since i suspect some of you might be curious what i've been thinking about with respect to MySpace.

This talk was part of AAAS in a panel called "It's 10PM: Do You Know Where Your Children Are... Online!" The panel was an unbelievable collection of quant and qual researchers thinking about these issues from all sorts of perspectives: Justine Cassell, Amanda Lenhart (PEW), Henry Jenkins and David Huffaker.

This talk went over exceptionally well (much to my surprise). Two teenagers who whispered to each other the whole way through the talk came up to me afterwards to tell me that what i said was true. A mother told me that her 15-year old son would surely thank me because she now understands that there is a positive side to the Net and she wants to start a conversation with her son about it (she had been banning access). Other parents told stories of their teens and quite a few thanked me for putting the scare issues into perspective. I have to say... it was one of the most rewarding talks i've given. I feel like i might have done some good in the world...

Category: myspace

   

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November 10, 2005

MySpace blamed for alienated youth's threats

Another beautiful MySpace article: Online Terror Threat Hits Local High School. The "terrorists" are two boys who are threatening to show up in school with machine guns. As a result of their posts to MySpace, most students didn't show up for school. The school district is pissed and blames MySpace for enabling students to "post their thoughts and ideas" without surveillance. They are deciding whether or not to sue MySpace.

::smacking forehead:: We didn't learn from Columbine did we? Both of those kids also posted their threats on websites. What they were doing was a cry for help. I'd bank money that those kids are feeling alienated and disillusioned with authority. Goddess knows the number of times i had dreams about blowing up my school growing up. Why is MySpace at fault? Because they are letting kids speak their minds? Is it better that they speak their minds so far removed from adult vision that they can't actually be supported when things go horribly wrong? Why not learn from the kids and try to support them rather than take away their tools for expression?

I was talking with a friend about this and he reminded me that these services help kids who are alienated come together and, sometimes, this means that they get validated in their alienation which exacerbates the situation. He's right and this is a problem with some of the cutters on LiveJournal - they try to outdo each other with more severe images. But then i talked to a psychologist about the cutters and she pointed out that she's so thankful for LJ. Now, she can see into the lives of people like her patients, better understand their psychology than anything they say in therapy and be a more effective therapist. Sure, she has to deal with the peer validation issue, which she admitted was more significant on LJ than in everyday life, but she said it's worth it because knowing what's going on in their heads helps her help them overcome the peer pressure bit as well as the actual damage. She told me it was far more effective this way.

In my research group, we started talking about cultural differences regarding peer groups and age-related validation. In the US, it's expected that you will be friends with people your age, but elsewhere, it's more common to socialize with cousins and family members of all different ages. Throughout our lives in the US, we're chunked by age and then we're spewed out into the adult world and it's so weird to make friends with people that are older than us. And we think it to be weird when friends span large age gaps.

The problem with a lack of diversity around age is that you're constantly being validated by people who are in the same stage as you, who are dealing with the same problems and don't have much in the way of perspective. I was thinking about how Manuel Castells always talks about the solution to ending violence starts with having diverse groups of people always interact. He thinks about this mostly in terms of socio-economic class, but does this apply to age too? Would we stop more youth violence if teens weren't so age-segregated? If the groups that provided them with validation were from different age slices?

It's pretty horrifying that we're talking about teens as "terrorists" now. More fear, always more fear. Of course, the more we fear teens and place restrictions on them, the more prone they will to seek agency through whatever means possible, even violence. We're creating our own demise through oppression. (::cough:: Paris.) When will we figure out how to support people through feelings of alienation?

God, i feel like a broken record on this one, but it seems like the media is doing a damn good job acting as one too.

Category: myspace

Tags: myspace youth alienation cultureoffear

   

Posted by zephoria at 2:08 PM | Comments (30) | TrackBack (2)

July 18, 2005

MySpace -> News Corp.

I've been waiting for a mega-media company to buy MySpace and sure enough, it happened. News Corp bought Intermix Media (the half-parent of MySpace). Unlike the other YASNS, the value of MySpace comes from the data on media trends that is the core of what people share on that service. You have millions of American youth identifying with media and expressing their cultural values on the site. Marketers who want to understand the constantly shifting youth trends are often looking for a perch from which to be the ideal voyeur. And with MySpace, they found it. Here, youth are sharing media left right and center and forgetting that they are doing so under the watchful eye of Big Media who are certain to use this to manipulate them. Because youth believe that MySpace is a social tool for them, they are not conscious of how much data they're giving to marketers about their habits.

Really, it's a brilliant move for News Corp. (assuming they can stay out of the courts and that the RIAA is nice to them). I'm just not so certain how good it is for youth culture.

Technorati Tags: myspace, yasns

Category: myspace

   

Posted by zephoria at 1:48 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (1)

May 4, 2005

"Move Over Friendster..."

One of my favorite aspects about MySpace is how little attention it has gotten during the whole YASNS thing. It has in many ways grown organically, based on actual networks, usage and whatnot. It is far less of a fad than any of the other services because those who joined it weren't doing so because of mainstream fad behavior.

So, waking up to the Mercury News exclaiming Move over, Friendster. There's a hotter site on the Web made me ROFL. Hotter? To who? By what standard?

If you follow this space, you know that MySpace has had more traffic than Friendster for a long time. They have fewer accounts, more loyalty, more freedom and generally a much more youth-friendly culture. Their popularity is mostly amongst users who never got into the fad of Friendster: goth kids, indie rock kids and youth. In the last six months, most of the urban teens i talk to talk about MySpace. If you're in college, you're on Facebook but if you're in high school, you're probably on MySpace. The only reason to say "Move Over Friendster" is because Friendster never really recovered its hyped status in the States and while its popularity overseas continues to grow, the media here has declared it a fad.

I must say that it's funny to see things circle back again and again in this space. Was this was the Boom was like?

Category: myspace

Tags: myspace facebook

   

Posted by zephoria at 2:02 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (4)