The social networking software is not my area of expertise, and neither is culture, but I am interested in how various aspects of software afford certain behaviors, but do not afford others. One of the things I find fascinating is how social software like myspace have facilitated a culture of casual hook-ups among some teenagers. Obviously, it's an interaction between certain teen cultures and the affordances of the software, but I was wondering if anybody has studied (1) how this online aspect of those cultures developed, (2) what purpose these behaviors serve in the culture: What needs of the teenagers are met? Is it simply because it allows them an opportunity to have sex? Why don't they just have casual sex with their F2F friends? Why does the software need to mediate the behavior? Does somehow not having a relationship make it easier to have sex? Or is that a mythology that contributes to facilitating such behavior? Does this have something to do with stealing power from their parents/adults in general, in that they are trying to behave like adults when society is still treating them like children (can't drive until 16 or 17, can't smoke, can't drink, have curfiews, most don't have to work to support themselves, only have to work to afford luxuries, etc.)? (3) what is it about the software that affords the creation of these types of casual relationships? why is it different than "normal" F2F relationships that kids develop? or is it so different? (4) is there a culture of practicing safe sex, or is the culture a potential STD disaster? (this is less research related and more a concern for the health of our youth question). Anyway, anthing people can point me to to read about this would be appreciated. Ingbert Floyd PhD Student Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign