Online segregation is the unintentional segregation of people on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, which is often believed to be a democratizing tool used to bring equality among people. For example, popular

social network service A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...

s such as MySpace and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

have been argued to magnify social, political, and class divides that already exist in the real world.

Racial Segregation

White Flight in Networked Publics

danah boyd danah boyd (stylized in lowercase, born November 24, 1977 as Danah Michele Mattas) She noted her mother added lowercase 'h' in birth name "danah" for typographical balance, reflecting the lowercase first letter 'd' and later changed her last na ...

, a technology and social media scholar, studied the concept of the

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

in relation to networked publics and examined how race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status impacted teenagers' preference between MySpace and Facebook. This process of self-segregation among social networks was akin to the white flight that took place during the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. During her research, Boyd also found that the people she surveyed often noted that MySpace was seen as "black" and Facebook as "white," along with the term "

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

" that played a big role in creating spatial and ethnic-based connotations. She also observed that people of a certain race would typically befriend people of the same race, thereby mimicking the self-segregation that also exists in real life.

Impression Management

A study on respectability politics argues that "modern social media presents new challenges for self-presentation and

impression management Impression management is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction.Sanaria, A. D. (2016). ...

." In the media, people are often forced behave according to the White power structure and keep in mind the appropriate rhetoric, context, or style that fits the taste of White people. This accounts for the concept of "imagined audience," where social norms and social context impact the visibility of people—especially that of minorities—online.

References

{{Reflist Racial segregation Internet culture

Racial Segregation

White Flight in Networked Publics

Impression Management

See also

References