One of my groups of Master Thesis students are going to write about viral marketing for young people, a quite interesting subject I think. Also in relation to the MIL project, Im involved in, I'd really like to know more about what have actually been written about childrens use of new media and how the way, they form and think about social networks are about to change as an affec of the existence of internet and mobile media. In this context, the work of Valentine Holloway looks quite promising: Cyberkids: Children in the Information Age. Sonia Livingstone has also done some interesting work and I have also ordered these articles: Stéphane Cantin,Michel Boivin: "Change and stability in children’s social network and self-perceptions during transition from elementary to junior high school.(2004) & Nick Bingham, Gill Valentine, Sarah L Holloway: "Where do you want to go tomorrow? Connecting children and the Internet".

Some of the user tests, the students involved in MIL have done, seem to imply that young people (in this case age 15-24, but test groups have been high school students) are in fact not very interested in using mobile media to get _new_ friends. It matters more to them to maintain existing social networks and friendships. Is that true - or do young people really like to gain _new_ friends via mobile media or the internet? If you know of any research into this question, Id love to hear about it!
# posted by Lisbeth at: 13:42