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Is Facebook racist?

Posted in Uncategorized on July 2, 2009 at 3:25 pm

A Microsoft researcher has claimed that MySpace has become a “digital ghetto,” after white people abandoned it in favour of the more elite-seeming, culturally-superior Facebook.

Speaking at a conference in New York, Danah Boyd described the flight from MySpace to Facebook, claiming that the people who made the move are more likely to be educated, white and privileged:

The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to all of us… It should scare the hell out of us… When people are structurally divided, they do not share space with one another, they do not communicate with one another; this canon does breed intolerance.

Apparently, Facebookers mock MySpace users, saying only idiots would stick with the site, that it’s full of stupid people, Boyd said, after four years of research.

Is she nuts? No one left MySpace because of their upbringing — the site has always been more of a music network, hence the urban (to Boyd, ghetto) users. Anyone who abandoned MySpace likely did so because Facebook is simply better — it’s easier to use, has better features, and easier on the eyes, too. It’s bothered to innovate, and was one of the leaders in the whole app store revolution, too.

And, MySpace is still widely used — in the US it’s the top social network. That’s where social networking started, and MySpace started it all. But then it was usurped globally by Facebook, which added users who had never even touched MySpace.

Boyd herself admits the social networks are not the problem; they’re merely a reflection of society. “People are already divided and we can’t expect technology to automatically integrate them and create cultural harmony,” she noted.

Still, she said we need to recognise that different types of people use different networks, stating what is colloquially known as “the obvious”. To Boyd, the increasing use of the internet to expand communication could leave some people out (again, yeah, we know). For example, she said politicians pushing information via Twitter and Facebook will be leaving MySpace’s ghetto kids out.

She cites Barack Obama’s election campaign. Obama used Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, as well as websites, as part of his campaign. You can’t accuse his people of not offering a lot of opportunity to hear his platform — especially as several of those are on open platforms, which don’t require even a free membership to access.

But is he ignoring his roots by ignoring MySpace? Um, no. Because he actually has an active MySpace page. You think Boyd would have noticed that in her four years of research…

Boyd also apparently name-checked the Iranian revolution, which has taken off online via Twitter. Why? It’s quick, it spreads fast, it’s easy. Iranians are using it because it perfectly suits their needs; what should they do, create MySpace accounts and add a bunch of friends before planning their protests, so some kids in urban centres in the US can follow along?

Boyd has compared Facebook and MySpace as though they are equals, as though they were designed to be. MySpace was designed for teenagers; Facebook was created at Harvard. Then, Facebook expanded its remit, looking to draw more and more groups. MySpace didn’t.

The similarity to “white flight” which Boyd describes can be attributed to this, quite plainly. She does a disservice to the real racial issues in the US (and everywhere else) by suggesting otherwise. Ghettos happen because the rich (and often white) people leave, while the poor can’t. There’s no reason anyone is tied to MySpace; if they have internet access, Facebook is just as free.

Of more concern is the digital divide — the many people who can’t or won’t go online. Not only does this put them at a disadvantage financially because of the prevalence of online discounts, but as more and more public services move online, it may become more difficult for them to access benefits.

So there are real problems, and Boyd is right to note that social media won’t solve every problem. But Facebook vs MySpace is as made up a problem as some of the relationships on those sites.

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