"Seriously though, nobody leaves a social networking site because "it's overcrowded with blacks". You wouldn't even leave such a site if it was overcrowded with trolls and racists. It's not a forum or some shared community resource - you only ever interact with your friends, and there's no such thing as overcrowding (as long as the servers keep up). The fail is strong in this report."
Sigh. How do allegedly well-educated, intelligent, open-minded people end up jumping to conclusions like this?
Read the original talk and the history of the research behind it. There are racial and class-based divides on social-networking sites, but the implication is not that anyone's (necessarily) a racist or a fascist or whatever convenient strawman you'd like to set up instead of actually using your brain.
I'm honestly not sure there is an implication, aside from pointing out the obvious fact that access to the Internet is not a panacea for existing social divisions. People online seek out and interact with people like themselves, just like people offline.
"Sigh. How do allegedly well-educated, intelligent, open-minded people end up jumping to conclusions like this?"
Who's alleging anything about being well-educated, intelligent or open-minded? Keep your prejudices at the door, thank you.
Seriously though, Boyd suggests "a modern incarnation of white flight". An incendiary accusation! What is "white flight" if not racism? "Oh no, don't get me wrong, I'm not a racist. I just want my kids to grow up in a neighbourhood with people of their own colour." Is she deliberately using that term to court controversy?
Could you point me to that history, because I can't see it (as I said in another comment). I think Boyd is mostly talking about her personal impressions.
Sigh. How do allegedly well-educated, intelligent, open-minded people end up jumping to conclusions like this?
Read the original talk and the history of the research behind it. There are racial and class-based divides on social-networking sites, but the implication is not that anyone's (necessarily) a racist or a fascist or whatever convenient strawman you'd like to set up instead of actually using your brain.
I'm honestly not sure there is an implication, aside from pointing out the obvious fact that access to the Internet is not a panacea for existing social divisions. People online seek out and interact with people like themselves, just like people offline.