December 29, 2009

this is bloody messy

When the Facebook data team released a bunch of data about diversity on their network, my first thought was “Oh, man – can’t wait to read Danah Boyd’s blog on this…” Here she is, with a terrific understatement (“Of course, this is bloody messy.”) and a crucial point on the different levels of access to social media.

It’s not just a question of what you get to experience with your access, but what you get to experience with your friend group with access. In other words, if you’re friends with 24/7 always-on geeks, what you’re experiencing with social media is very different than if you’re experiencing social media in a community where your friends all spend 12+ hours a day doing a form of labor that doesn’t allow access to internet technologies.

Worth reading in full.