Quiver & Quill

I interviewed MsJen who shared her perspective on Dana Boyd’s theory of superpublics. I am especially interested in two comments in this interview:

1) people who do not have history on social networks may actually be at a significant disadvantage

2) we grow and change within our social networks. What we post on Myspace at 16 is much different from what we share at 24.

For more on Dana Boyd’s theory see:

• http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/03/21/friendster_lost.html
• http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/03/22/super_publics.html
• http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/03/18/tweet_tweet_som.html

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 (Image courtesy of Krishna De, from Flickr)Children are less likely to lose touch with their friends because they’re connected by social networking sites from the moment they begin school. This was not the case with my parents’ generation. I recently reconnected on Facebook with a friend from middle school. Within two days, five of my other middle school classmates had reconnected with me. There was something exciting about looking at their profiles to see who they’ve become, how their faces have changed and how their personalities haven’t.When today’s kids grow up, their entire social network will age with them. They will decide who to remove from their networks and how much access to grant those who remain, rather than seeking out old friends. How will this affect their sense of who they are, who they were and whom they consider to be their people?

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