In this editor’s opinion, the above title of this report should read: Blacks ‘Sparked White Flight From MySpace’ — Ed.
A “WHITE flight” to Facebook has turned MySpace into a black ghetto, according to a social analyst in the US.
Danah Boyd said Facebook’s arrival sparked a migration from MySpaceof white users, the educated and the wealthy, while non-whites hadstuck together on MySpace.
MySpace is owned by News Corp, the parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au.
“Itwasn’t just anyone who left MySpace to go to Facebook,” Ms Boyd, whoworks with Microsoft Research New England, told a crowd at New York’sDemocracy Forum.
“We might as well face an uncomfortable reality … what happened was modern day ‘white flight’.”
Ms Boyd said MySpace had become a digital “ghetto”.
“The people there are more likely to be brown or black and to have a set of values that terrifies white society,” she said.
Herinterviews with American teenagers since 2006 showed that onlinemigration mimicked the patterns of class groups’ movements acrosscities.
She found teens who preferred Facebook were far more likely to talk down to those who use MySpace than vice versa.
Ms Boyd said her research showed high school students found Facebook “more cultured” and “less cheesy” than MySpace.
“Anyhigh school student who has a Facebook page will tell you MySpace usersare more likely to be barely educated and obnoxious,” she said.
Ms Boyd also warned that the class divisions on social sites will harden over time.
“Theirdecision to (move to Facebook) was wrapped up in their connections toothers, in their belief that a more peaceful, quiet, less-public spacewould be more idyllic.” (The digital world mimicking the real world? — Ed.)