Friday, April 18, 2008

Adult only?

In the blog post Networks for Children posted by Nick O'Neill on the Social Times blog, the statement is made that social networks are for children and blogging is for adults. I agree and disagree, both. Here's why.
First of all, let's clarify. It's not really children we're talking about, it's young teenagers. Because when I think children, I think kids under the age of 11. Which, perhaps they are on social networks. Those little liars, telling Myspace that they're 13. But there are PLENTY of adults on social networks, as well. I mean, they're the ones who have people to connect with. Kids just don't know that many people to be able to have the same social network experience. If I was 11 and I had a Myspace account, my friends would be limited to a few friends from school, my 2 cousins, perhaps my sister and if I'm lucky, some camp friends. And that's it. But I'm not going to say that kids aren't on social networks, because they definitely are.
As for the blogging, I think that it's very similar. Adults have stuff to blog about. Kids, in general, don't. They might have some good insights here and there, but for the most part, adults are the ones who have the power.