Ethnicity's Role in Social Networking

Reiterating what was pretty much common knowledge, a new study from Northwestern University finds that a college student's social networking site preference is directly influenced by his or her race and ethnicity.

The authors of the less than earth-shattering study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, conclude that Facebook is the social networking site of choice for…wait for it…white students.

Hispanic students seemed to prefer MySpace while Asian and Asian-American students also opted for Facebook but tended to avoid MySpace more than any other group. The latter groups also were more inclined to use the less popular social networking sites like Xanga and Friendster more than students from other ethnic groups, according to the authors. The study turned up no statistically significant social networking choices for black students.

Says Eszter Hargittai, author of "Whose Space":

That race [and] ethnicity…can predict which social network sites a student selects suggests there's less intermingling of users from varying backgrounds on these sites than previously believed.

You don't say. Wasn't the whole democratizing effect of social networking sites shot down years ago? I guess an article in the JCMC makes it 'Ivory Tower' official...at least for Professor von Stuffypants and his crew.

[Via PsychCentral]

Image: FLC