There’s an interesting article on Corante about a comparison of Xanga and LiveJournal communities. It shows that “a LiveJournal user picked at random is overwhelmingly likely to be white, while a random Xangan is much more likely to be Asian or Asian-American”, as you can see clearly by the graph. A large part of the reason for this is that these communities grow virally through friends. So much for that melting pot theory. I’d like to see a similar study done on Friendster’s user base.
what’s lj? what’s xanga?
2 different journaling/weblogging communities
LJ = LiveJournal – http://www.xanga.com/
Xanga = http://www.xanga.com/
i know, but should i care? both are filled with trash talking teens. the only thing they’re good for is marketing some cigarettes and beer.
Well there’s the melting pot theory and then there’s the tossed salad theory. I think America is much more like the salad. We may mingle & mix at work and (some) schools, but when most people leave work they associate mainly with ‘their own kind’. I grew up in one of the most racially diverse areas of the country (part of Los Angeles) and believe me the vast majority of the country isn’t anywhere close.
This world is anything but a melting pot. No matter where you turn somewhere or another there is some kind of seperation. wether it be racist, stereotypes or anything else there is no way we have entered into a melting pot. A salad bowl perhaps, if even that much.