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Facebook founding premise wasn't what made it big - 100% easy onboarding to good features (chronological friends & family posts, and flash games) is what lead t

• dredmorbius 4y ago
  Danah Boyd has made a compelling alternative case (from 2007): When Facebook opened to everyone last September, it became relatively easy for any high school student to join (and then they simply had to get permission to join their high school network). This meant that many more high school teens did join, much to the chagrin and horror of college students who had already begun writing about their lack of interest in having HS students on "their" site. Still, even with the rise of high school students, Facebook was framed as being about college. This was what was in the press. This was what college students said. Facebook is what the college kids did. Not surprisingly, college-bound high schoolers desperately wanted in. In addition to the college framing, the press coverage of MySpace as dangerous and sketchy alienated "good" kids. Facebook seemed to provide an ideal alternative. Parents weren't nearly as terrified of Facebook because it seemed "safe" thanks to the network-driven structure. (Of course, I've seen more half-naked, drink-carrying high school students on Facebook than on MySpace, but we won't go there.) As this past school year progressed, the division around usage became clearer. In trying to look at it, I realized that it was primarily about class. <http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html>