Sorry - i should clarify - i don't mean that there isn't diversity in users. MySpace has more traction with youth from diverse backgrounds than any site on the web. In the schools that i'm tracking, there's no racial differentiation in MySpace participation. That said, of the kids who i've talked to who refuse to use the site, 100% are white (most come from wealthy backgrounds too... a handful view it as a political stance against Murdoch... but the number of intentional non-participants is relatively small). Urban and suburban kids are more likely to participate than rural kids, but that's the only segmentation i've really seen. But when it comes to race and class, this is not stopping participation. Working class kids are all on there - they log in at school mostly. (Interestingly, the poorer schools are less likely to have the blocking devices on their technology so underprivileged kids can log in at school while rich kids can't.) [All this said, i have no official numbers - only what i see on a daily basis... PEW is working on getting some formal numbers though.]
In reading this, I fall back to some of the same old tired saws... 1) where's the *data*, danah? 2) what size is N? what sampling methodology? 3) what are your classification criteria for "black", "urban", "suburban", "hispanic", etc? "working class"? [want a flamewar? here's the place to start..] 4) what's your cite on "poorer schools" vs. "richer schools"? What evidence for the proliferation of blocking mechanisms in one vs the other? If there's no data, what you have is not research - it is a set of guesses and observations that you may or may not be able to substantiate and make a strong argument out of. You might want to modulate your presentation a bit to take that into account... --e