
153
Chapter 10
Online Social Networks
Suddenly, socializing online was no longer about hiding from the real world, because
the two were becoming indistinguishable.
SARAH LACEY
(2008, 96)
If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist.
SKYLER SIERRA
Interviewed at age 18 (boyd 2008a, 170)
Online social networks allow members to formally articulate and maintain connections
between themselves and others, commonly referred to as ‘friendships’. e soware lets
users create a prole describing themselves and their social relationships, and share vari-
ous types of personal information such as snippets of news about what they are doing and
where they have been, ...