I'm a noob. And this question could be rich dissertation material for philosophers, evolutionary psychologists, sociologists, educators, etc.
I’m taking “sticky” not in the sense that Boyd (2007) uses it to describe the topic of class division (“touchy”) but in the sense of being addicting and hugely popular. So far, I'm not stuck; I can only speculate on some of the more obvious reasons:
- we’re social critters and can't help it; it's like candy to a baby
- they're a potentially endless distraction
- they're entertaining
- they open up new possibilities for relationships, jobs, showing off, revenge, etc.
- they allow armchair social dramas and 'safe' social explorations
- they take the edge off of loneliness
- they are 'the place to be' to define oneself in many circles
- they are designed to be sticky by some very smart and wealthy people
SNSs are one tool that I will definitely use after this class is over, but I’m going to have to explore more to settle on which ones and on how to configure them.
So far, I'm not hooked. The experience of setting up and tricking out a MySpace page left my eyes and tired and attention scattered. Facebook was not as visually obnoxious, but both are a little intimidating, and I wouldn't want to start joining networks and uploading things frivolously.
Still, I'm eager to start really exploring these services and to see what comes out of them...
Boyd, Danah. (2007). Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace .Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24, 2007. Retrieved June 2008 from http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
