Information Systems Research Forum

Youthful Practices on Social Networking Sites: Balancing Questions of Design and Literacy

Sonia Livingstone
Department of Media and Communications, LSE

Tuesday 18 November 2008 1300 - 1430.

New Academic Building, 2.06

View the slides from this presentation

In a recent article, I explored the teenagers’ practices of social networking in order to uncover the subtle connections between online opportunity and risk. In this paper, I will briefly reprise the main argument and evidence, noting that while younger teenagers relish the opportunities to continuously recreate a highly decorated, stylistically elaborate identity, older teenagers favour a plain aesthetic that foregrounds their links to others, thus expressing a notion of identity lived through authentic relationships. Setting these and related findings in a broader context of public concern regarding online risk, and policy initiatives regarding online safety, I will use the academic findings as a springboard for discussing the balance between the design of social networking interfaces and the media or internet literacy that children and young people have, and may be expected to have.

Background paper
Livingstone, S. (2008) "Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression". New Media & Society, 10(3): 393-411.

Sonia Livingstone is Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is author or editor of eleven books and 100+ academic articles and chapters on media audiences, children and the internet, domestic contexts of media use and media literacy. Recent books include Audiences and Publics (2005), The Handbook of New Media (edited, with Leah Lievrouw, Sage, 2006), Public Connection? (with Nick Couldry and Tim Markham, Palgrave, 2007) and The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture (edited, with Kirsten Drotner, Sage, 2008). She was President of the International Communication Association 2007-8, and has just been appointed to the Executive Board of the UK Council of Child Internet Safety.

If you are a visitor from outside LSE, please send a confirmation to c.m.bonina@lse.ac.uk. You will need to sign in at the reception desk of the New Academic Building. Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required for LSE students and staff.

For any further queries regarding this seminar or to request information about future events please contact Frances White. Research Coordinator.

page last updated 18 March, 2009

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