Race, ethnicity and the strength of Facebook ties

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the role of race and ethnicity in the self-reported strength of the social ties of young adolescents on Facebook. Based on the social diversification hypothesis, which argues that in multicultural societies, race and ethnicity are key factors that shape the nature of associations, we examine whether there are ethnic and racial differences in the size and strength of the ties of adolescent Facebook users and the role of the strength of these ties in several positive outcomes. Using data from the U.S. Teens’ Social Media and Privacy Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life project among 802 teens ages 12–17, we found no differences in the total number of ties that adolescents from different ethnic and racial groups reported. However, African Americans reported significantly higher number of weak ties, while White Americans had a significantly higher number of strong ties. The results are consistent with the social diversification hypothesis. The implications of the findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth culture
• consumption
• ethnicity
• exclusion
• media

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Tanya Kolobov for her technical help and Inbal Lam and Yossef Arieh for their comments. Data for this study were provided by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.