Common uses of Facebook among adolescents from different social sectors in Buenos Aires city

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the common uses that adolescents of the City of Buenos Aires display in the Facebook platform. From the review of the state of the art and the empirical evidence gathered by 30 in-depth interviews, 24 months of daily virtual observation and the analysis of 200 profiles in Facebook, it is displayed that for both groups of adolescents the social network is their central entertainment and communication environment. At the same time, the primary uses they give to Facebook within the site refer to self presentation, interchanging personal information between friends, sex-affective relationship searches, and exploring different aspects of their sociability and identity. We examine the most «popular» posts between adolescents (photos, personal texts). Besides, we describe the most usual ludic-communication uses: chat, upgrading status, photographic prosumption and streaming. In this sense, we acknowledge that daily use of the resource bythis population is the sharing of intimate performances with the goal of increasing sociability between peers and accomplish a higher visibility both in and out of the site. Thus, by studying the images in the timeline’s of adolescents, evidence is exposed showing that gender representations are in conflict with traditional models and new forms of masculinity and femininity. En este artículo se abordan los usos comunes que realizan los adolescentes de la ciudad de Buenos Aires en la plataforma Facebook. A partir de la revisión del estado de la cuestión y de la evidencia empírica recogida en 30 entrevistas en profundidad, 24 meses de observaciones virtuales diarias y el análisis de contenido de 200 perfiles de Facebook, se muestra que para ambos grupos de adolescentes la red social es su entorno central de entretenimiento y comunicabilidad. A su vez, que sus principales usos dentro de este sitio son la autopresentación, el intercambio de contenidos personales entre amistades, la búsqueda de relaciones sexo-afectivas y la exploración de distintos aspectos de su sociabilidad e identidad. Se indaga en los tipos de publicaciones más «populares» entre los adolescentes (fotos y textos personales). Además, se describen los usos lúdico-comunicacionales más habituales: chat, actualizar estados, prosumo fotográfico y streaming. En este sentido, se observa que un recurso de uso cotidiano entre esta población es el intercambio de performances de intimidad con el objetivo de aumentar la sociabilidad entre pares y lograr una mayor visibilidad dentro y fuera del sitio. Asimismo, por medio del análisis de imágenes de los muros de los adolescentes, se aporta evidencia acerca de que las representaciones de género se encuentran en conflicto entre los modelos tradicionales y las nuevas formas de masculinidad y feminidad.

“Multimacy”: Performances of Intimacy on Facebook by Buenos Aires Adolescents

“…On the other hand, we found one of the justifications for this research in that the pioneering concepts used to describe adolescents have begun to get exhausted in their explanatory potentiality (Linne, 2014). It is necessary, therefore, to elaborate on the ways in which society makes use of ICTs from a sociological perspective.…”

“…On this multi-purpose platform, adolescents are the most numerous and active sector when it comes to publishing personal photographs. This can be explained, to some degree, by their high time availability, their digital native condition (Prensky, 2001) and also because they are at a stage central to identity experimentation and construction (Urresti, 2012), for which this platform is especially useful and satisfactory (Linne, 2014). Unlike what happened in previous decades, up to what some researchers have called "Kodak culture" (Chalfen, 1987), mobile digital technologies allow for this photographic experimentation and this visual-identity configuration to be recorded and put to the test in front of a wide community.…”

“…We also think it is necessary to contribute to the investigations on LIS households because it is one of the populations which poses the most difficulties (Linne, 2014). Above and beyond what they usually face, everyday life for these adolescents consists of various…”

“…In their free time, they arrange to go out with friends; chat on Whatsapp and text on their mobile phones; play on their videogame consoles; watch audiovisual contents online; view, take and edit photographs, and use social network sites. In this context, FB constitutes the largest interphase and the fundamental medium of communication to articulate their entertainment and communication (Linne, 2014). In this context, one of the communicative resources most used by adolescents in Buenos Aires City consists of the publication, viewing and commentary of personal photographs (Linne, 2015).…”

“…This concept is useful to exemplify the use of dichotomic categories, as it is a characteristic practice of digital natives which is absent from digital immigrants, whose main feature is a lack of (Linne, 2014).…”