A Question of Medium-Sized Sociological Importance (Or Not)

Posted on June 25, 2007    Posted by John Scalzi

If there really is a cultural divide between the people who are on MySpace and the people who are on Facebook, as this draft of an academic paper suggests, what does it mean that I have accounts on both?

I suppose I could suggest it points to my own white-trash-yet-elite status (living in a mobile home while attending one of the most expensive high schools in the county, say, or being (very) briefly homeless while (also briefly) having Saul Bellow as my college thesis advisor). But since all those days were well behind me by the time either of these sites existed, probably not. Personally, I suspect it has more to do with the fact I sort indiscriminately sign up for these social network sites. This would also explain why I have accounts on Friendster, Okrut, LinkedIn, Prosper, Flickr, Second Life and etc and so on. I am a stat-oriented sociologist’s worst nightmare.