PUBLIC

Apparently I did not hear about the group blog postings, so I will be doing my own and hope that I still get partial credit. My mistake.

So let's talk about "Why Youth (Heart) Social Networking Sites". I feel that much of it has to do with the rise of the Internet occuring during our generation. The Internet is now another way to escape from one's parents. These sites might also act like one of Baudrillard's simulations. We are using the Internet as a "second life", where we are free from conditional rules. I believe that the article is very accurate towards what teens believe the networking sites to be. They are all about how we want to project ourselves. But of course, how we project ourselves entirely depends on who we want to see it. An adult's myspace profile generally works as a dating profile, with accurate statistics and to-the-point answers. Teen's pages range from flashy and all-inclusive to plain with short and witty answers, depending on the group with whom the person associates.

I think our developing understanding of publicity in new media plays a huge role in the use and importance of networking sites. The new public domain is democratic, entirely free, and a different realm altogether, and that makes these sites more interesting than ever.