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Study shows that students' race weighs on social networking site choice

Social networking sites are some of the most popular places for people to congregate online. Many think of the Internet as an equalizer where anyone with web access can meet as peers regardless of race or level of education.

Social networking sites aren’t perfect with minors often solicited for sex and convicted sex offenders amongst the user base. These sorts of problems don’t stop people from using sites like Facebook or MySpace. Some states are trying to pass laws requiring social networking and online dating sites to be more specific on if the sites perform background checks on members to provide better security for users of the site.

A recent study points out another possible problem with social networking sites. Rather than putting all Internet users on a level playing field, the study claims that the Internet is simply fostering the same race divisions we see commonly in the real world.

Eszter Hargittai of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University in Illinois performed a study of 1,000 college freshmen from the University of Illinois, Chicago. While 1,000 students from a single university are usually a poor demographic for diversity, UIC was chosen as it is currently pegged the fourth most diverse university in North America (PDF).

The study results show a clear division of students based on race with respect to what social networking site they prefer. Hargittai’s study found that Caucasian students prefer Facebook while Hispanic students prefer MySpace. Asian and Asian-American students were more likely to use Xanga and Friendster but did use Facebook as well.

The study shows that Asian students are less likely to use MySpace than any other race. According to the study the level of education of a student’s parents affects what social networking site they chose as well with MySpace users tending to have parents with less than a high school education.

LiveScience reports that the study results showed that overall 80% of students reported using Facebook and 75% of those reporting the use of Facebook said they used it frequently. MySpace was used by 54% of students with 40% of that number reporting frequent use. Exactly what defines frequent use was not specified.

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It's a good study, but....
By chrispyski on 11/29/2007 2:25:26 AM , Rating: 5
I am a little skeptical of the sampling methods used in this study. A sampling size of only 1,000 from only one University hardly speaks to the total racial makeup of the various social networking sites.

Nevertheless, It's a good starting point for a much larger study.




RE: It's a good study, but....
By phatboye on 11/29/2007 2:32:36 AM , Rating: 2
esp if you consider how segregated Chicago is.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By mdogs444 on 11/29/2007 8:48:40 AM , Rating: 3
After living in Chicago for 5 yrs, Im not sure I would say that its more segragated than any other big city. It still has its ghettos that are primarily black, it still has its suburbs that are primarily upper-middle class white....but once downtown, outside of the ghetto, its probably one of the most culturaly diverse cities that I've ever been to.

But seeing as how Chicago is the 3rd largest city in the nation, sure it has more of these culturally segragated areas than other "large cities" - outside of NYC, LA, Atlanta. Chinatown, Mexican village, etc aren't something you would find in every city. But those are very small areas of the city, and when you figure on about 11-12 million people in the Chicago area, it really is very diverse.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Drexial on 11/29/2007 9:36:27 AM , Rating: 2
i've been to chicago a few times and i can clearly draw a line down the blocks where the black community is being pushed out. to give you an idea about how segregated it is. when i first went to chicago i was staying at a friends, and he wasn't going to be around the one night so me and my friend that traveled there decided we would crash at the airport that night cause our flight was first thing in the morning anyway. so we took a bus out towards the midway and work our way towards it. we were waiting at a stop in south west chicago when a cop car drives past, then promptly comes to a stop and then goes in reverse and parks in the middle of the street. the passenger side window slowly rolls down and the cop asks what were doing... didn't think waiting at a bus stop was all that confusing. there were others doing it around the corner and a little ways down the street. so anyway. we explain to the cop that we are just heading to the airport to crash there till our flight comes. after a couple minutes the cop just goes "alright..... well, good luck" then slowly rolls up the window and they drive off. it was then that i realized the only reason they stopped was because they found it strange that a couple white kids would be in that part of chicago....

id consider that pretty segregated.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Parhel on 11/29/2007 10:30:18 AM , Rating: 3
No, he stopped because you were in a neighborhood where, for the most part, white people only go to buy drugs. Your one experience doesn't make Chicago segregated. Sure, Chicago some all black neighborhoods, but you have to consider that it's a very large urban area - around 10 million people in all.

Those neighborhoods exist primarily because of the history of the area. When there was real segregation in the South, black people were encouraged to move to the area because of the large number of jobs we needed filled in the meat packing industry. Chicago built large free housing complexes for the families to live in temporarily while they got on their feet. This didn't pan out, the meat packing industry moved elsewhere, and most of the families remained in the free housing. Hence, we still today have large unintegrated areas.

There aren't, however, social structures in place that would prevent people of any race moving into just about any neighborhood. I've lived in the area all my life, and compared to other places I've been, Chicago is a very tolerant place to live.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By mdogs444 on 11/29/2007 12:25:21 PM , Rating: 2
Thats not segregated - thats called a ghetto my friend. Midway is not a good area. Thats like going to the east side of Columbus, or the near east side of cleveland.

The area by Midway is a notoriously low income, section 8, ghetto. Every big city has its ghettos and its upper class. Thats not racial segregation though.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/29/2007 10:24:36 AM , Rating: 3
Let me add a little bit of background, not only as a Chicagoan but as a UIC alumni.

Not only is Chicago quite possibly the most segregated city in the world, but UIC is quite possibly the most diverse university in the world. NIU, University of Chicago, Loyola, Depaul and IIT all use UIC for sampling because there is no majority demographic.

This professor really could not have picked a better school to do such a study.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By zinfamous on 11/29/2007 10:34:24 AM , Rating: 2
adding to that, diversity is not the same as segregation. I've lived on the North side of Chicago for almost 5 years now, and commuted to the south side for 3 years for work (U of C; go figure. I now work downtown). Chicago is very diverse, but is also extremely segregated.

There isn't even a "latin" neighborhood, but a Puerto Rican neighborhood, Mexican neighborhood, etc. the Major streets are pretty clearly marked as dividing points in the various neighborhoods of the city, and the cultural borders are quite obvious.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Parhel on 11/29/2007 10:42:46 AM , Rating: 2
You can't be serious. Chicago is nowhere the near the most segregated city in the world. We have our problems like anywhere else, but race relations typically aren't one of them.

I've lived in the North side of Chicago, Aurora, Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Riverside, Berwyn, Hanover Park, DeKalb and Sycamore. By and large, the neighborhoods I've lived in were all diverse.

Have you ever spent any considerable amount of time in the South? How about Europe? You can't say Chicago is segregated by comparison.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/29/2007 11:01:02 AM , Rating: 2
Unfortunately, what you listed to me was a bunch of suburbs. I've lived in various neighborhoods on the West Side for the better part of 7 years.

Segregation is not necessarily in a negative context -- though since the 1960s the city has been laid out in very neat framework to keep people away from each other.

Look at urban avenues -- almost all of them have dividers and don't have a lot of crosswalks. The major highways don't often have crosswalks or even overpasses. The same could be said for train lines.

Daley (the first one) set the city up after the botched DNC so that the city could be easily controlled during a problem. Even the universities (UIC, U of C, IIT) are designed so that police could easily contain a riot from students.

And yes, I spent a summer in Holland and three weeks in Atlanta. There is a considerable difference. In Holland (or Hotlanta) I would never be able to traverse a Greek neighborhood, an Italian neighborhood, a Ukranian neighborhood, a Mexican neighborhood -- they just don't exist in the same place. In Chicago I can walk from Uktown to Greektown, through Little Italy to Pilsen. For a while there was even an all black neighborhood on the way.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Samus on 11/29/2007 8:20:08 PM , Rating: 2
I've lived in Beverly for 20 years. When a black or hispanic family moves in, everyone gets scared. I swear, some of the reactions I see could win a place in a 1930's cult film.

However, the whole city isn't like this. I just bought my first house in a very diverse neighborhood and couldn't be happier here. People's attitudes toward different races of people are dependant on where they live and where they've lived.

Think about it. If you grow up in a white community, you're not going to be happy in a mixed community. If you grew up in a mixed community, you probably wont be happy in an all-white community.

What makes this study so interesting is that it parallels this real-world 'stereotype' to the internet community, which is kind of sad.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By animedude on 11/29/2007 7:27:25 PM , Rating: 2
Come to Vancouver and you'll see what is call cultural diversity.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By XtAzY on 11/29/2007 3:26:49 AM , Rating: 3
This is just from my experience and statistics from my point of view, and I'm sure it's different for other people. Since I'm Asian, I used to use Xanga along with most of my Asian friends during high school years. I did have MySpace, but soon ditched it since I hated it so much. So much porn spam in MySpace inbox. Most of my friends thinks it's lame. After I started college, almost all my Asian friends does Facebook and ditched MySpace and Xanga. Again this is from what I see.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By animedude on 11/29/2007 8:02:36 PM , Rating: 2
It is the same trend for me. Now everyone is using facebook.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By BladeVenom on 11/29/2007 4:34:10 AM , Rating: 2
A study about race division and blacks aren't even mentioned. What does that say?


RE: It's a good study, but....
By DigitalFreak on 11/29/07, Rating: -1
RE: It's a good study, but....
By OrSin on 11/29/2007 10:28:57 AM , Rating: 2
And some rated this A$$hole up. Race is not the factor. Racism might be.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By EricMartello on 11/29/2007 3:00:03 PM , Rating: 1
Hahahahaha :D


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/29/2007 10:31:04 AM , Rating: 2
Black is the smallest minority at UIC. Less than 40% of the university considers themselves white, but the remaining 60% is just about everything.

The joke goes you can walk from one side of campus to the other and not hear a word of English.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Screwballl on 11/29/2007 12:42:22 PM , Rating: 2
agreed.... cover all races if you are going to do a proper study, wheres the Alaskan Indian or native American segment? Where is the Icelandic and Swedish entries?
Some study this turned out to be, doesn't even include the real minor races (and completely fails to mention blacks).


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Parhel on 11/29/2007 1:14:26 PM , Rating: 2
If this were a study analyzing national trends, then you would be correct. But cultural studies, especially those involving race, tend to become diluted or irrelevant when the sample size is too large or crosses too many socio-economic boundaries.

It is likely that this study was limited intentionally, and I doubt that they would purport to discover any universal truths from the results.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Hoser McMoose on 11/29/2007 6:28:05 PM , Rating: 2
Not only that, they also didn't count how many white, asian and hispanic people have Niggaspace.com accounts!


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Lazarus Dark on 11/29/2007 7:47:38 AM , Rating: 2
I'll go on and say 1000 students at one university is a useless study in this regard. The racial makeup of any one university is not likely to represent the nation at all.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/29/2007 10:34:01 AM , Rating: 2
Normally I'd agree with you, except the fact that UIC already has a different student makeup than any university in the world.

Here are the demographics if anyone is interested. The Caucasian population is below 40% now, but the stats on Wikipedia are from 2005:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Illinoi...


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Keeir on 11/29/2007 2:03:03 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Normally I'd agree with you, except the fact that UIC already has a different student makeup than any university in the world.


Ummm... thats not exactly a good thing. IF the goal is to take a sample that closely repersents the United States (or world Internet Users), then it would appear that UIC is a very poor choice.

Why? Because its "Diverse". That terms means funamentally that minorities are -over- repersented at the school. In this case from your link, Asians appear to be drastically over-repersented at the expense of caucasian and afrian american. (Most census data points to US being 70% caucasian and 16% african american). Alternatively, if we look at World Internet users, I would think Asians would consitute a higher percentage than 24% (with countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, etc).


RE: It's a good study, but....
By mindless1 on 11/29/2007 3:08:44 PM , Rating: 2
I think you're overlooking something pretty substantial, that the study involved ONLY college students. That can't possibly be an accurate representation of the nation. Additionally, this is an urban environment, also not corresponding to a significant % of the population.


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/30/2007 11:44:50 AM , Rating: 2
While it's not a very good representation of America as a whole, its a very good representation of people who use social networking sites. Facebook was closed to non-edu accounts for years ---


RE: It's a good study, but....
By DeepBlue1975 on 11/29/2007 8:02:16 AM , Rating: 2
The problem is not a 1000 people sample, but rather that they're all from the same university.

So the study will just say how what it describes sets a trend in that particular university.

University usually is bond with economical and social position, the university's most supported careers also speaks about intellectual interests that most students who attend there have, and we all know that career choice and personal profile are very related to each other...


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 11/29/2007 10:29:12 AM , Rating: 2
As I mentioned earlier, I am a UIC alumni.

One interesting thing about UIC is that everyone is required to join a social networking site for freshman level classes. Almost every english class requires the student to do some kind of social blogging / networking. The policy has always been, however, that the student could pick whichever site he/she pleases.

I think under that unofficial policy there is a very good demographic for this study -- especially given how diverse UIC is.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By mdogs444 on 11/29/2007 8:44:40 AM , Rating: 2
Well there are many things wrong w/ this study.

First and foremost, different races that voluntarily choose which sites they would like to join does not mean that the internet social sites are harboring racial segregation. The sites are free to join, and chances are, you join them because you already have friends on them to begin with. So if anyone is guilty of this so called "segregation", its the users friends who signed up before them, not the site itself. And that is even a stretch as we have the right to choose our friends, and the right to only be friends with people within our ethnic group, as well as the right to be friends with people outside of our ethnic circle.

Also, lets take the group in the study. 1000 students from a single university, in which many of them have similar backgrounds & goals to begin with (academically speaking), it doesn't make sense to use that group to compare it to the entire USA or any other country for that matter. Thats like saying, out of all the people in Cleveland Ohio, the blacks joined myspace and the whites joined facebook - does that mean its the same in every city across the nation, and that everyone believes in this social segregation? No.

Also, they are only talking percentages. How many of the 1000 sample size are black, and how many are white, and how many are asian, etc. I am willing to bet they are not an equal number, so they cant even make any kind of educated guess on this.

This just screams stupid. If I want to be racially segregated, then thats my choice and my right. If i do not want to be, then thats also my choice and right. Lets not go blaming the free internet websites - because after all, each person has a mind of their own and makes their own decisions.

This is just another person conducting a study trying to blame someone for what they see as a potential problem in the world, when it fact, it is personal choice. Its like blaming budweiser because people choose to drink and drive - no one is pouring that budweiser down your throat and telling you to jump behind the wheel. Its a personal choice, and the only ones to blame are the ones who make that choice.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By SirLucius on 11/29/2007 11:30:16 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Also, lets take the group in the study. 1000 students from a single university, in which many of them have similar backgrounds & goals to begin with (academically speaking), it doesn't make sense to use that group to compare it to the entire USA or any other country for that matter.


That's a really good point. I go to a NYU and it claims to be a fairly diverse university. It both is and it isn't. It is in the sense that you have a bunch of people from different ethnic backgrounds and countries coming together to learn at the same university. It isn't in the sense that all of those people have similar goals and are attracted to the school for similar reasons. NYU attracts a certain kind of student that thinks and acts in a certain way. So while you have a fair amount of cultural diversity, there isn't as much diversity in thought. It doesn't matter what racial group you may fall into if you all behave in similar ways.


RE: It's a good study, but....
By Parhel on 11/29/2007 2:16:24 PM , Rating: 2
I think you are reading more into this study than you ought to. I didn't see in the report that they drew any conclusions regarding specific races or segregation, or that they placed any blame on individuals or on the services.

To me, it looks like they wanted to see if the race relations of individuals in real life were parelled in their online lives, or if due to the anonymity of being online they stepped outside of their normal boundaries.

Not every study needs to be a giant nationwide census pulling in people from every imaginable background. Likewise, just because the study targets race doesn't mean that they are attempting to make a statement about race.


Study
By VitalyTheUnknown on 11/29/2007 7:40:14 AM , Rating: 2
Ludicrous study.

The study claims that the Internet is simply fostering the same race divisions we see commonly in the real world.

In real world all my friends happens to be white males simple because I have something to talk about with them, you know Football, UFO, girls, rock music, but now I guess I have to change my behavior just not to feel that I am gay and racist.

Feel Free To Correct My Grammar.




RE: Study
By robinthakur on 11/29/2007 8:09:44 AM , Rating: 2
It doesn't sound gay, or racist, this is just the way people mix and you can't force people against their natural will to be friends. Maybe you meant homophobic rather than gay... My statement would be similar in the real world all my friends happens to be white males simple because I have something to talk about with them, you know Shopping, gadgets, hot guys, video games, celebrity gossip, the economy, property and how much money we all make lol I wouldn't say you are either gay or homophobic as we don't really dig UFO's like str8 people do...


RE: Study
By VitalyTheUnknown on 11/29/2007 8:28:44 AM , Rating: 2
So what this study then was all about, that people are trying to find friends with similar interests? Don't we know about this? We were in need for the ultimate proof?

Feel Free To Correct My Grammar


RE: Study
By clovell on 11/29/2007 12:15:35 PM , Rating: 2
I'm with you. Forget sampling methods - the study means nothing. The internet isn't influencing racism any more than the Russians are using cell phone towers to read your brain waves.

For Pete's sake, how can you even claim the Internet is responsible? Nice try at a headline, but fortunately most people haven't lost as many brain cells as it takes to believe that crap.

I am getting so tired of scientists and professionals pimping themselves out to media and politics just to 'raise awareness'. We've got legislators raising cane about criminalizing spanking - even though they know the bill won't pass and only want to 'raise awareness'. We've got people trying to tell us videogames make people violent - just so their study can get a headline. And don't get me started on Al Gore - hell, maybe he should be responsible for this racism, since it's caused by the internet he helped create (that's a joke, people, put the control rods back in...) This has gone beyond ridiculous.

Of course, this may just be a simple case of the media twisting researchers' words around. If so, then screw them, too.


Who cares?
By EricMartello on 11/29/2007 3:11:34 PM , Rating: 2
Racial division is nothing new, and very common. Why does it matter if more of a certain racial group uses a particular website? Furthermore, what is this moronic link between racial division and racism. Racism is simply hating on someone solely because of their race...but there is nothing wrong with a white person preferring to hang out primarily or only with other white people. It's not "racist" or wrong, and it doesn't matter what your racial background is - chances are high that you stick with your own kind.

As for the guy wondering where the black people were in this study...perhaps we should put free (they HAVE to be free) internet access terminals in all the KFCs around the USA, then conduct a study which will show that 90% of the people who use these access points are black. :D




RE: Who cares?
By Parhel on 11/29/2007 7:02:39 PM , Rating: 2
You're an ignorant racist.


RE: Who cares?
By EricMartello on 11/30/2007 9:48:56 AM , Rating: 2
You're apparently upset about something. Want a tissue and a cookie?


Race Card for Attention
By randomwalk16 on 11/29/2007 2:25:08 AM , Rating: 3
"the study claims that the Internet is simply fostering the same race divisions we see commonly in the real world"

Last I checked, all these services are free. I don't see any of them discriminating (fostering division) against anyone...

Its more of a case of the sites having a positive externality (the more of your friends that are on one site, the more likely you are to join it). Seeing as the majority of a student's friends are usually of the same race, this racial clustering is bound to happen.

Really, all this article is saying is that people mainly have friends of the same race. But then again, nothing will get a report more attention than calling the race card, regardless of whether it is warranted or not!




RE: Race Card for Attention
By onereddog on 11/29/2007 3:37:53 AM , Rating: 2
I think technically in the sense of what fostering means, the segregation be it forced or voulentary of users from varying sites is fostering race divisons.

As you said yourself
"Really, all this article is saying is that people mainly have friends of the same race."
And these friends all then use the same sites... I believe that counts as fostering.


Totally had me pegged
By Sylar on 11/29/2007 3:06:35 AM , Rating: 1
I'm asian. I'm not longer visit any of these sites though but I've used Xanga, never touched myspace ever, has checked out facebook a few times. So the study was quite dead on when describing me.




RE: Totally had me pegged
By Drexial on 11/29/2007 9:45:52 AM , Rating: 2
I'm white and have posted on Xanga more times then Myspace and Facebook combined.... but that isn't saying much considering i only posted 5 times. Myspace is over dramatic, facebook was filtered through the overly privileged and Xanga... no idea where it came from, just sounds cool.

i think most if any of these sites are fairly useless in the most part. Facebook how ever is by far the most useful in organizing things though.


By GeorgeOrwell on 11/29/2007 4:41:33 AM , Rating: 2
Hanging out with real people in the coffee shops, bistros, and bars. Which is the roundabout way of asking what percentage of the freshmen answered "none of the above" ... ?




By klstay on 11/29/2007 8:43:47 AM , Rating: 2
When allowed to exercise the right of freedom of association people, especially those hopefully smart enough to be in college (which is not saying much these days), knowingly decide upon those with generally the same background as themselves.

The report, as expected, spins this as evil and wrong. We as a society have somehow failed to teach the perfection that is multiculturalism. Standard mainstream media twaddle. Again, no surprise there.




Facebook began with Ivyleagues!
By Rav3n on 11/29/2007 8:44:34 AM , Rating: 2
Facebook initially began at Harvard as a social network that was entirely closed. Slowly, it allowed in more colleges, beginning with top-tier schools, and eventually filtering down and into lesser-known schools. It is still a very college-centric social network, with student membership being the most complete as far as functionality and networking features go. Of course, with the recent open API it set up, and with the earlier open-to-all take it adopted, anyone can now join. But there was a very firm base of successfully educated individuals in the US before Facebook really came out.

Myspace never had this. Anyone attracted to Myspace just wanted to be part of a social network. It took on anyone and everyone, without discriminating by level of education.

Yes, in the US, it is fact that whites are still the most privileged, and college costs have only risen. This study should not come as a surprise...




Bad study - no research $$$
By jskirwin on 11/29/2007 9:42:03 AM , Rating: 2
The only thing worse than no information is bad information.
It's an interesting question to ask, but if it's not asked correctly (larger sample size, mixed locations etc) then ther results are worthless for the reasons cited by other commenters.




By DeepBlue1975 on 11/29/2007 10:53:56 AM , Rating: 2
I think it's quite logical.
People won't change there socializing habits overnight just because of the communication medium they are using.
I guess with time and internet proliferation, those habits will slowly change but aside from that, I would never expect a group of people to behave in a way that's not coherent with their normal behaviour, just because they're socializing over the internet.




Worth noting
By Rampage on 11/29/2007 2:57:19 PM , Rating: 2
It is worth noting that Facebook is the superior site of all of those. Correlation? You decide.

If you can't tell, I'm being facetious. ;) Take a deep breath, multicultural sensitives. :)




So why is this a problem?
By jmunjr on 11/29/2007 3:15:10 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously, why is this an issue? There is nothing wrong with specific races wanting to associate with the same, nor choosing to congregate in the same places.

We really need to stop forcing people to think and behave a certain way. Let individuals choose how they want to live their lives. All of this not only is possible but is healthy, and it still can be achieved while maintaining equal rights, opportunities, and liberties for everyone.




and...
By JonnyDough on 11/29/2007 3:57:58 PM , Rating: 1
the majority of the people leaving comments here are white.

Myself included.




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