I just read danah boyd's articulate set of observations on the apparent socioeconomic split between the young users of MySpace and Facebook. If you're curious about this too, you should definitely read the essay, but this may be the summarizing excerpt:

The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.

MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.

...of course, this can read like broad generalization without allowing yourself context. So don't go yapping your mouth without reading the whole thing.

I certainly approach this subject with my own biases that aren't secret at all. In fact, it's plastered on my MySpace profile. Primarily from the perspective of someone who has worked on the Web for the past 8 years (yet also as a John Q. Public user), I loathe MySpace and wish I could take all my friends with me to Facebook. (Fwiw, I used to love Friendster too, and I thought Orkut was decent). To my earlier point about the above quote providing only an illustrative takeaway, I'd never classify myself—not now and certainly not when I was a teen—as hegemonic. But I digress, as the article certainly wasn't about me at all. I often forget I haven't been a teen for a long while. Perhaps, if I'm so inspired by how uninspiring MySpace is, I'll write some more on how MySpace is not....well, my space.

So now, in addition to being a web usability and aesthetic train wreck, MySpace can now come with a social stigma too! Just as one's realization of being perceived as underclass can manifest into a "Fuck the world, and I know you're looking at me!" sentiment offline, I wonder how the MySpace kids would react if presented with this information. How would they metaphorically add more piercings or let their pants sag lower?

Although Facebook was love upon account activation for me (so was tribe.net, by the way) and MySpace the opposite, I continue to maintain accounts on both (Tribe too). After all, it's the Network Effect at work here, and I'm interested in keeping touch with all my people, not just my informed friends, those who were fortunate enough to leap across the digital divide sooner than others.

Background

I left New York 3 years ago to live in beautiful Northern California, one of the best decisions of my life. When I get homesick (and I regularly do), I try to remember that the feeling can be remedied by a visit. I try to make it back a couple of times a year. New York gets a bad rap (particularly from Californians I know) about the Summer's humidity and lack of cleanliness. I say get over it; it's one of the best times to be around if you're looking for ubiquitous fun. I got into New York yesterday and have been living like I never left from the second I got here. Tons to do while I'm in town for the week, but I wanted to jot down some notes about initial impressions and experiences.

Arrival into Brooklyn

It was rough landing at 8am and trying to get from Newark (I'd rather not call it by its new name, "Liberty") Airport to Greenpoint, Brooklyn via the Airtrain, NJ Transit, and Subway (E to G Train). I chose not to tune out the workd with my iPod the way I used to before leaving; I thought it would be grounding to remind myself of the sounds and other stimuli. Funny how this stuff I used to tune out is now a novelty for me. I also needed as few distractions as possible. The transpiration channels are really great for people who use them everyday, but I'm so out of practice. I probably made 45 minutes of bad, sleep-deprived decisions. I finally made it to my good friend Alana's place around 10:45.

P.S. 1

Alana seemed to have the same amount of rest (or lack thereof—she mumbled something about a BBQ that went on until 5am) as I, but we were both ready to do nothing else than get ready for P.S. 1's Warm Up party. It was an amazing gathering of music, creative people, and art installations. The security staff wasn't at all fond of me; I seem to annoy those types, and I somehow managed to piss of about 4 of them. A new record for me. We thought I'd surely get ejected before the end of the day. Luckily, that didn't happen.

Water Taxi Park

Someone thought it would be a good idea to dump sand all over the ground in L.I.C. and make it look like a beach, a beach off of the East River? While surfers, real beach lovers, and everyone else I know who loves the outdoors would cringe, it was actually a great venue of an urban party. The Manhattan skyline painted the background, while people got to take their shoes off, drink, and dance. My friend, Greg, described it as more of a construction site than a beach; that's probably more accurate. I bumped into many new and old friends that night. We stayed until the thunder storms got a little too inconvenient.

More to come! My phone continues to ring, and there's so much to do. I just don't want to forget these times. Hopefully, jotting this down will help.