With advances in technology and media convergence, teens today are growing up in a much different world than their parents did. The Internet

now serves many teenagers as a place to „hang out,‟ without needing a ride to the nearest mall.

Chapter 2 of Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out focuses on how young people “build, maintain and develop friendships” (Ito 114) through social media.

Staying socially

connected

• Several teens surveyedthroughout the US admit that,“engaging with social media isimportant for developing and maintaining friendships with peers” (Ito 79)

• Teens use social media to “keep in touch with their friends, classmates, and peers when getting together is not possible” (Ito 79)

SNS(s)

Allow teens to extend

interactions beyond physical

boundaries – conversations

don‟t have to stop!

Encourages peers to socialize

together vs. small groups or one-

on-one interactions

Allow teens to have more privacy

with their communication –

through SNS but also with

mobile phones and IM

Why youth network:

Negotiate identity

Gossip

Support one another

Jokey for status

Collaborate

Share information

Flirt

Joke

Goof off

Hang out

Friendship-Driven Motive

Friendship plays a

central role in SNS use

Youth turn to social media

to maintain friendships

This motive supports the

kind of social relations that

center on:

Popularity, romantic

relationships and status

How technology plays a

role in friendships online

Establishing

Reinforcing

Complicating

Damaging

Peers & Friendship

• Making friendships is a key component of growing up

as a competent social being and young people need to be immersed in peer cultures from an

early age

• “Teens flock to social media to play out means of status negotiations when they are away from the school yard”

(Ito 93)

Communication via SNS

• Encourages a smaller, close knit group of friends –referred to “always on” type of communication. This

occurs through mobile phones and IM

• Larger peer groups are connected via SNS

• Online / offline are not separate worlds, just different settings essentially

Teens use social media “to do what they have been doing” (Ito 85)

Making Friends

“Social media theoretically allows

teens to move beyond geographic

restrictions and connect with new

people” (Ito 88)

Can develop relations with people who are different from them

Most teens connect with people they already know or are already loosely connected with

Can turn acquaintances into friendships

Teens make friends by choice

Their choices are influenced by

social, cultural and economic

conditions around them

“Homophily” is the likelihood that

people connect to others that

share their interests and identity,

such as similar age / shared

interests / values

SNS can also be an outlet for teens who are

ostracized or outcasts in their own social setting

These teens find a sense of comfort in developing friendships online. The

anonymity of communicating without facing social consequences helps

provide that comfort.

While many teens find comfort in communicating online, the act of

meeting people online is stigmatized in society for a number of reasons.

And the amount of friendships made online is much smaller than those

made outside the online world.

Dangers and stigmas associated with online communication are:

that it is dangers, risky, stranger danger notion, teens may have issues

getting along with peers at school or socializing normally

Performing Friendships

• Friendships outside the online world are often never actually confirmed as real friendships, social media however reinforces the notion of friendships by putting a label on just about everything

• “Buddy Lists,” “Friends” on Facebook are all ways in which friendships are confirmed or made „official‟ online

• These lists are also made public, again reinforcing the fact that they are real

• “Friends” label all articulated friendships, regardless of intensity or connection type

Friend lists also serve 3 major

purposes:

1) An address book of contacts

2) Privacy settings and control

3) A way to display social identity and

status

SNS(s) allow users to determine their own

boundaries concerning who they accept

and who they reject as “friends”

Teens enjoy this option because it

allows them to be private, have a

deeper sense of connection with the

people they do communicate with and

to be safe

FriendshipHierarchies

MySpace‟s “Top 8” or “Top Friends” feature

allow users to pick a selected amount of

„friends‟ to be featured in their top spots

which appeared publically on their profiles

This feature proved to be very controversial

for many users, especially youth. The feature

forced users to pick certain friends over

others, often causing drama or fights

between friends

“Structural aspects of software can

force articulations that do not map well to

how offline social behavior works” (Ito 103)

Status, Attention & DramaSNS and mediated forms of communication can be a great place for

youth to develop and build friendships throughout their formative years,

but communicating online comes with the territory, especially for teens.

The Internet is home to the struggles that often occur as a natural part

of the aging process.

Common problems

that occur for teens

online include:

• the fact that friendships are made extremely visible which can extend or amplify drama beyond school

• gossip travels faster over the Internet – making it a catalyst for teen drama

•online “stalking”

• the „News Feed‟ which allows users to constantly keep up with their friends at all times

• bullying or “cyberbullying”

“The public, persistent, searchable and spreadable nature of mediated

information affects the way rumors flow and how dramas play out” (Ito 112)

Conclusion

“Social media and social networking sites allow teens to be

more carefully attuned, in an ongoing way, to the lives of their

friends and peers” (Ito 113)

Teens use social media to build, maintain and to develop friendships

with their peers. As a way to share ideas, cultural artifacts and

emotions with one another. And mainly, to strengthen connections

Common practices associated with SNS(s) use of teenagers are:

gossiping, flirting, joking around and hanging out

Technology, especially social media, has the ability to mirror or

magnify teen friendship practices either by enhancing or

intensifying situations