Should Large Social Networks Give Teens Their Space Back?
Posted by anastasia on 04-27-2009I was thinking about how MySpace could get its groove back and began to think about teen social networking fatigue on Facebook, too, and came up with an idea that I'm sure will have its detractors. Still, I wanted to put it out there. Given Meredith's post today on teens' need to hang out away from parents (the initial draw for them to sites like MySpace and Facebook) as well as the reality that teens and adults are in different developmental stages of their lives (well, most adults), I would argue that there might be value in bringing back exclusively high school and college versions of Facebook and creating them on MySpace. Remember Sconex? It's gone now, but you had to verify which high school you attended in order to sign up. Same with Facebook when it was just college students and then high school students. I think that teens and students/grads who used these services back then would argue there was value in being able to use these sites primarily to network with friends their own age and mostly friends they know in real life.
Maybe teens and college students could maintain limited profiles on the main services to keep in touch with family or other adults in their lives, but the bulk of their social activity would take place within walled-off areas that were really "their spaces." In a way, it could function in a similar way to Teen Second Life, which is literally "teens only" except for community managers. Adults can set up islands and offer activities, but teens have to go to them vs. adults coming into their space.
From an advertising/marketing perspective, segregating by age makes monetizing these areas a lot simpler and the ads for both high school and college students a lot more relevant. Recreating these walled or gated areas for youth also keeps unwanted adults out. At-risk teens who want to flirt with strangers would have to do this on the main services — making both the teens and adults engaging in this behavior easier to identify.
Whether the high school area and the college areas would be separate is another question — my guess is that high school students would want "in" to the college areas while college students would want the high school students "out" — still it seemed to work on Facebook when they were two separate areas where a college student would have to friend a high school student to allow them access. I also think the high school area could be staffed with community managers or even peer moderators from different schools to keep an eye on bullying or other red flag behaviors that may pop up.
I know it's a radical idea — and am curious to know your thoughts….
Categorized under: Web
April 27th, 2009 at 11:26 am
First reaction: Hotbeds of cyber-bullying.
I know teens want their space back, but as a society, I think we've made a collective decision that social networking is something you need to learn about as a young person and part of that involves not posting anything you'll regret later if an adult sees it.
Yes, this limits how they can interact with friends to some extent – though their parents are probably not directly spying on them any more than usual. My parents, for example, never check my college-age brother's facebook profile, even though they can.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I believe Tagged.com segregates by age (at least they did a year or so ago), with a firewall between teens and 18+ – might be interesting to talk with them. Kristen makes a good point above. I can really see merit to both arguments – that teens deserve their own space and that it's more "normal" or reflective of RW – as currently the case in FB, WoW – not to distinguish. Some SN sites make segregation an actual safety feature, but I think that's slowly getting discredited (as a safety measure, not a social one) by research showing that harassment and cyberbullying affects a GREAT many more tweens and teens than predation. So – as Kristen aptly points out – segregation could actually be LESS safe for teens. I guess I lean toward mixing ages and having good safety practices like MySpace and Facebook. Segregation by *interest* makes more sense to me. Appreciate your thinking "out loud."
April 27th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
From my research with Teens, they aren’t just worried about their parents spying on them, which parents do, but it’s the fact some of their parents are actually active on the site. Imagine looking in your status update and seeing your Mom’s recent updates and they her friends ‘friend’ you because they think you’re sweet. I’ve heard teens migrating back to MySpace for this very reason, and I see them being interested in a place geared just for them.
The whole interesting part about being a teen is you are just figuring out who you are, and trying out different ways to create your identity.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Interesting thoughts from everyone.
I really enjoyed Facebook when it was for college-kids only, and I think tweens and teens are hungry for their own spaces. However, there are also perks from being able to communicate with everyone you know through the space, but the walled garden was also really nice. Since Facebook has opened up to everyone, it's definitely changed the way I interact with the service. I'm much more careful about what I post now that FB has such high visibility and everyone from my elementary school teachers to my great aunt gets fed my content. For me, Facebook was more fun when it was "just us" college kids, but it's definitely more useful as a networking/communication tool since its opened to the public.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Facebook first came out the summer before I left for college. I distinctly remember a friend calling me up, gushing about this new website I HAD to join. I went on, set up an account, and started searching for other girls who would be living in my dorm.
When move in day rolled around everybody already knew each other (sort of) thanks to Facebook. This made the whole experience run a lot smoother. This was back in the day before Facebook had photos, tags, etc. Just a wall to create simple, SAFE connects with new friends I met at college.
Then Facebook allowed high school students on….then businesses….then any yahoo. WHAT?! WHY!? What was wrong with the exclusive colege version?
I hardly use my Facebook account anymore b/c it lost it's value to me as it's original purpose: to connect college students with other college students. Plus it's interface completely changes every other month. Stop trying to be everything Facebook. Find one thing you rock at, and stick with it. You'll have much more loyal followers and a firm direction.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Teens can keep Facebook walled off by not accepting friend requests from adults.
The biggest problem I see with restricting a social networking site to high school students or college students is this: what do you do when they graduate? Kick them out? If you don't, you wind up with the same problem you tried to solve.
I think teens and adults grow and thrive more with healthy, intergenerational contact. Facebook provides that, and I'm happy with its inclusiveness.