"If social networks were like cars"

Nova Spivack (search on his name here for more of my posts mentioning him) has a thoughtful post about the proliferation of social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), positing that we join the ones with brands most appealing to us - while noting that he belongs to most of them as do his friends. (Me, I wouldn't say most but I do belong to more than one.) See "If social networks were like cars."

danah boyd has been writing about this for some time as part of her research on how the young 'uns are taking to the web, with distinct preferences for which social network they join based on class, ethnicity, and the like. And, no, that's not a typo. danah is lower case all the time. This post on "Teen Socialization Practices in Networked Publics" links to her recent talk for the MacArthur Foundation, and hits the high points of her research. Very interesting and mandatory reading for those of us following the complexities of the online world.