Krysten Faulkner

With advances in technology and media convergence, teens today are growing up in a much different world than their parents did. The Internet

now serves many teenagers as a place to ‘hang out,’ without needing a ride to the nearest mall.

Chapter 2 of Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out focuses on how young people “build, maintain and develop friendships” (Ito 114) through social media.

Staying socially connected

SNS(s) Allow teens to extend interactions beyond physical boundaries – conversations don’t have to stop!

Encourages peers to socialize together vs. small groups or one-on-one interactions

Allow teens to have more privacy with their communication – through SNS but also with mobile phones and IM

Why youth network:

Friendship-Driven Motive

Friendship plays a central role in SNS use

How technology plays a role in friendships online

Peers & Friendship

Communication via SNS

Making Friends Teens make friends by choice

Their choices are influenced by social, cultural and economic

conditions around them

“Homophily” is the likelihood that people connect to others that

share their interests and identity, such as similar age / shared

interests / values

Performing Friendships

Friend lists also serve 3 major purposes:

1)  An address book of contacts 2)  Privacy settings and control 3)  A way to display social identity and

status

SNS(s) allow users to determine their own boundaries concerning who they accept and who they reject as “friends”

Teens enjoy this option because it allows them to be private, have a deeper sense of connection with the people they do communicate with and to be safe

Friendship Hierarchies MySpace’s “Top 8” or “Top Friends” feature

allow users to pick a selected amount of ‘friends’ to be featured in their top spots

which appeared publically on their profiles

This feature proved to be very controversial for many users, especially youth. The feature

forced users to pick certain friends over others, often causing drama or fights

between friends

Status, Attention & Drama SNS and mediated forms of communication can be a great place for

youth to develop and build friendships throughout their formative years, but communicating online comes with the territory, especially for teens.

The Internet is home to the struggles that often occur as a natural part of the aging process.

Common problems that occur for teens online include: •  the fact that friendships are made extremely visible which can extend or amplify drama beyond school

•  gossip travels faster over the Internet – making it a catalyst for teen drama

•  online “stalking”

•  the ‘News Feed’ which allows users to constantly keep up with their friends at all times

•  bullying or “cyberbullying”

Conclusion “Social media and social networking sites allow teens to be

more carefully attuned, in an ongoing way, to the lives of their friends and peers” (Ito 113)

Teens use social media to build, maintain and to develop friendships with their peers. As a way to share ideas, cultural artifacts and

emotions with one another. And mainly, to strengthen connections

Common practices associated with SNS(s) use of teenagers are: gossiping, flirting, joking around and hanging out

Technology, especially social media, has the ability to mirror or magnify teen friendship practices either by enhancing or

intensifying situations