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Leaving MySpace, joining Facebook: 'Growing up' on social network sites
Citation
Robards, B, Leaving MySpace, joining Facebook: 'Growing up' on social network sites, Continuum, 26, (3) pp. 385-398. ISSN 1030-4312 (2012) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 Taylor & Francis
DOI: doi:10.1080/10304312.2012.665836
Abstract
In the past decade, the reach of social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook has
extended to a point where for many young people, participation is now mandatory for
inclusion amongst peer groups. For some of these young people, large parts of their
social lives have been played out on these sites. The shift from one site (MySpace) to
another (Facebook) can also be understood as marking an important change in the way
young people manage their ‘digital trace’. This shift corresponds with narratives in
which participants signal their movement towards forms of online sociality that are
concerned with their relationships with others on Facebook rather than the often
introspective and performative forms of sociality emphasized on MySpace. This article
examines elements of each site that participants point towards as contributing to their
own shift – both in terms of their functionality and the broader social milieu in which
the sites operate. More broadly, this article also considers the ‘trace’ that is generated
by participation on these sites (creating profiles, uploading images, commenting on
pages and so on) as representing a key mechanism by which young people’s transition
narratives can be made accessible and visible amongst their network. This article draws
on research from two linked small-scale qualitative studies conducted on the Gold
Coast in Australia, the first with a group of 10 young people in 2007 and the second
with 30 young people in 2009/2010.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | youth, new media, MySpace, Facebook, social network sites, belonging |
Research Division: | Language, Communication and Culture |
Research Group: | Communication and media studies |
Research Field: | Communication technology and digital media studies |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Communication |
Objective Field: | The media |
UTAS Author: | Robards, B (Dr Brady Robards) |
ID Code: | 85702 |
Year Published: | 2012 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 34 |
Deposited By: | School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2013-07-30 |
Last Modified: | 2015-04-09 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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