Randoms in my bedroom: Negotiating privacy and unsolicited contact on social network sites

The immense popularity of social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook has caused a significant shift in the way social interactions occur on the internet. Online interaction is no longer the sole domain of people seeking contact but rather it has become a key medium for maintaining and strengthening social relationships. This article draws on empirical research investigating emerging social practices being developed by young Australian internet users on social network sites. Consistent with other current research, this article argues that social network sites are increasingly regarded as private spaces where young people are ‘hanging out’ and articulating or playing with notions of identity and belonging. Some social networks have even been likened to bedrooms for teenagers, or are arguably replacing shopping centres and parks as spaces for casual youth interaction. Based on empirical research, this article tests these metaphors and suggests measures to strengthen their validity. As multiple social relationships are collapsed under the banner of Friendship on social network sites, important issues about privacy and audience management need to be addressed. What constitutes ‘Friendship’ in the Facebook era? How do young people deal with unsolicited contact in these private spaces? This article argues that young users of social network sites on the Gold Coast in Australia are, consistent with research being conducted throughout the world, developing increasingly complex strategies for managing their online privacy and social interactions. 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the participants in this study for their gracious donation of time and insight. Introduction The large-scale adoption of social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook in the last five years has generated an online environment that is difficult to avoid. For many young people, participation has become mandatory. Abstaining can often equate to social exclusion, given that many offline social events are organised through social network sites: “[without Facebook] you wouldn’t know what’s going on with people... you’d forget about them” (Alison, 19). As the most popular of the two, Facebook has over 400 million active users worldwide and eight million Australian users, with 50 percent of users logging in at least daily (Facebook, 2010). With Facebook and MySpace in 2010 being the second and 12th most popular online destinations in Australia respectively, this emerging phenomenon shows no sign of decline (Hitwise Australia, 2010). A recent Neilson Online (2010) survey found that Australian internet users spent more time on social media (including blogging websites and social network sites) than any other national demographic. Based on empirical qualitative research conducted on the Gold Coast in Australia, this article develops an understanding of the practices individuals in their late teens and early to mid-twenties are developing to negotiate privacy and unsolicited contact on social network sites. The central concerns this article will address are a) what constitutes ‘Friendship’ for young users of social network sites; and b) how these spaces are being spatially conceptualised in terms of privacy and imagined audience. This article will rethink the deployment of the