social networking

I feel VBPL should use social networking to reach out to teens, in the 21st century. MySpace has 50 million accounts. Most are young people 25 and under. MySpace has more page views per day than anysite on the web except yahoo. The benefits for socialization outweigh the risks. They have music, photos, & video. Profiles are personalized, network allows people to link to a friends network through the profile they create. checking messages and getting comments is what brings people back everyday. Youth have asynchronous messaging needs MySpace complements that practice. Identity production plays out on MySpace, profiles provide opportunity to craft expression through language, media, & imagery. It is a form of cultural currency. Youth want to be popular, it is a new way to hang out, you build relationships. Youth lack mobility and access to Myspace encourages them to be online. It is controlled space. Most teen space is controlled by adults, so hence the attraction to MySpace, they need private space. They interact with a broader peer group. Youth are exploring identity formation, it is not meant to attract adults. Restricting youth to controlled spaces results in rebellion and destruction of trust. Parents should be the one restricting use. Library profile on MySpace should be useful to users not a cheesy place. We want feedback from students, we need to create a library portal within MySpace to be current with a new form of social networking.