[iDC] limits to growth and equity in social networking communities?

[Matthew Waxman]

An urban planning problem emerging in social networking?


social networking researcher dana boyd suggests in her recent blog entry
that facebook's (www.facebook.com) opening its doors to everyone is
problematic, that social networking sites can't sustain "conflicting social
contexts":
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/09/28/facebook_is_ope.html

facebook used to be only available to those with .edu, high school, and
corporate email addresses; now it's open to all.

So I ask:

if an all-access facebook will ruin its sacred purity, does this propose
that a limits to growth exists in social networking communities?

does exclusivity define place?

do borders define contexts?

if different and "conflicting social contexts" (students, non-students, and
as danah puts it, those "obsessed with youth - parents, authorities,
pedophiles, commercial enterprises") are able to live within the same
networked community, do they have to be separated into different (virtual)
neighborhood quartiers?

is it okay for everyone to potentiallly mingle like in a real city or ideal
agora? or, are enclaves the answer?

and are population levels, and one's origins, related to the "quality of
life" for a real urban or virtual cyberspace place?


Best,
-Matt
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