Open AccessWhose Space? Differences Among Users and Non‐Users of Social Network Sites
Author(s) -
Hargittai Eszter
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00396.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , space (punctuation) , autonomy , social network (sociolinguistics) , race (biology) , inequality , service (business) , digital divide , internet privacy , psychology , sociology , world wide web , computer science , business , political science , social media , marketing , the internet , gender studies , operating system , mathematical analysis , mathematics , anthropology , law
Are there systematic differences between people who use social network sites and those who stay away, despite a familiarity with them? Based on data from a survey administered to a diverse group of young adults, this article looks at the predictors of SNS usage, with particular focus on Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster. Findings suggest that use of such sites is not randomly distributed across a group of highly wired users. A person’s gender, race and ethnicity, and parental educational background are all associated with use, but in most cases only when the aggregate concept of social network sites is disaggregated by service. Additionally, people with more experience and autonomy of use are more likely to be users of such sites. Unequal participation based on user background suggests that differential adoption of such services may be contributing to digital inequality.