In Danah Boy’s article, “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life”, she studies the way that teens interact with each other, and with the interfaces of Facebook and Myspace. Boyd’s article researches the social effects that accompany these social networking sites, and how the use of them has progressed. When Myspace first hit the mainstream it exploded on the web with millions of users. But when Facebook was introduced everyone attempted to move to the new, more exclusive social media site. Boyd looks at why this happened, and what the ramifications were of this shift.

Initially users shifted to Facebook from Myspace because it simply appeared as the new, more in depth, and more exclusive forum to socially interact as they had been doing. But Boyd argues there is a another important reason for the shift from Myspace to Facebook. Like Boyd says, many users started shifting to Facebook looking to the new site as a way to move up the social status ladder. When Facebook first hit the inter-webs it was only for the use of college students, and one had to be invited to Facebook to be able to create an account. This gave users the look that they were older, more mature, and thus higher on the social ladder. While some were permitted to use Facebook, others were still stuck using Myspace, which created a social gap between groups of people; essentially a social media induced social stratification.

In the interview with Kat in Boyd’s article, the young girl often uses the term “ghetto” to describe the type of people who use Myspace. Her association with the alleged lower class of Myspace users comes from certain social norm enforced by social media in her world. Facebook makes itself look better than Myspace to attract new users, causing those who stay behind to look of lower social status.

Danah says that while many chose to use both sites, those who only chose one tended to be from different backgrounds. Like I mentioned before, Facebook was originally intended for the use of college students and those who attended the top high schools in the country. Because of this, one of the ramifications of this elite status is that now, teens from lower income backgrounds are more likely to chose Myspace, and teens from more elite, higher income backgrounds tend to chose Facebook. Likewise, students who attended colleges that were ranked higher were more likely to be using Facebook over Myspace, compared to college students attending colleges ranked lower.

Facebook’s use was intended for the most elite, and the repercussions of that are absolutely shown in the demographics of its participants today. One of the greatest marketing tools to date is to make consumers believe that the product you are selling is only for the elite, or for an exclusive group of people. By making your product unattainable, at least for a period of time, you will greatly increase the demand for it. And when it is revealed to the public, the use of the product will be explosive. This is the pattern we saw with Myspace, Facebook, and now Google+. The flip side of this technique is the when the masses move on to the next big thing, those left in the dust with the old and outdated now posses a lower social [media] status.