Connections between Social Networking and Socioeconomic Class

           I read an interesting article on CNN about parellels between socioeconomic classes and the networking sites they choose. This article stated that "people in more affluent demographics are 25 percent more likely to be found friending on Facebook, while the less affluent are 37 percent more likely to connect on MySpace." Also, people who use Twitter are most commonly in cities, and 38 percent of LinkedIn users make over $100,000 a year. What does this say about the use of Social Networking sites?                                                        

        On a personal level, I have a Facebook and a Twitter. If you are interested, my twitter is @mchunt23, but that's beside the point. I am a white, high school student who lives in an affluent subarb of Chicago. I fit the study perfectly- I live in an affluent demographic and a city. However, why do these parallels exist?                                                          

           One of the guesses presented in the article was that now, people join the networks their friends are on, but that explains why these divides continue, not why they began. However, facebook was originally for the students and faculty of colleges, universities, and organizations recognized by the site. Those registering had to provide a valid email associated with those organizations to get a page. That means that the first people to use the site were those who went to college- and college is an expensive luxury that not all americans can afford. So, the people who used the site were typically from more affluent backgrounds, meanwhile those from less affluent backrounds went to the all-welcoming myspace. Now, facebook is open to all, but people joined the sites where their friends were.

     While this is an totally uneducated guess, I believe that Twitter users are mostly in cities because the site spreads by word of mouth. Therefore, in areas with more people, more people will hear about it. LinkedIn is a site for buisness recruiters, and similarly, people in more affluent jobs might be more likely to hear about it. However, that is only a hunch with nothing to back it up.

     What do these sites say about us? What does the use of these sites reflect about our time period and society?