Psyched about Social Networking

Sixty percent of trendsetters and 33% of mainstream 14-34 year-olds have a social networking page. These are just three of the many social networking trends you need to know:

Big Brother: Some young people are now afraid to create MySpace/ Facebook pages out of fear that potential college and job recruiters, and even school and law enforcement agencies, will read them. As one young person told us, “My friend got busted by undercover cops surfing the net looking for graffiti artists; he had posted a photo of his graffiti next to his tag.” Parents snooping in their kids’ lives aren’t anything new, but now young people have to be aware of a much wider audience stealthily investigating them online.

Cyberbullying: Kids are creating fake profiles under their targets’ real names and posting horrific photos and remarks to make them look bad online. Because kids are waging war against each other on online pages that are seen by most of their peers, there is potential for real damage.

Netiquette: As the distinction between friends, acquaintances, and contacts gets more complex online (for instance, with technology that allows an inner circle to view certain photos, while others are blocked), we’ve been seeing an online etiquette or “netiquette” evolve. MySpace has a “Top 8” category and Flickr distinguishes between “Family and Friends” versus “Contacts.” We’ve heard that being excluded from the “Top 8” list is affecting “real” relationships.

-The Cassandra Report
Three times a year The Intelligence Group publishes The Cassandra Report®, an in-depth look into the lives of 14-34 year old consumers. It’s a comprehensive understanding of emerging trends across a broad range of topics, including technology, entertainment, fashion, spending, marketing, attitudes and consumer products.