Le Web 3: danah boyd on Youth Culture

danah boyd gave a break-neck pace presentation of youth culture and its interaction with MySpace earlier. I couldn’t blog it at the time, because I’d lost all connection to my blog server, but all seems well again. It gives some idea of the importance she places on MySpace’s role in teen culture that If you do not have a MySpace page in US as a teen, she thinks that socially, you don’t exist.

MySpace’s growth, particularly in the music area is partially attributable to the misstep of a previous player in the field Friendster tried to control how people used it and saw a backlash as it kicked people who weren’t using in in the prescribed way kicked off the site. MySpace actively sought out these people.

It’s since become a whole new paradigm of communication, actually articulating a community in the wider sense.

However, there are two growing problems in the MySpace world: parents and predators (mainly marketers).

Parents can go check out what you’re up to on MySpace now it’s widely known about, And there are thousands of people trying to figure out how to become a teen’s friend and sell them stuff. Now teens can’t even talk to their friends on MySpace because 2000 messages from people trying to sell to them are in the way.

The future is likely to be on mobiles, but the lack of interoperability, between networks and handsets is still a barrier.

Interested in this? Check out this fuller précis.