Social networking sites, such as Facebook, have become a phenomenon, with around 80 per cent of Swiss young people using them.Research being discussed at an academic conference in Basel shows that teenagers use these sites to help shape their identities and for communication, although not in sensitive matters. However, security is still an issue.
The two-day meeting, which started on Thursday, brings together international researchers to discuss identity, communication and privacy issues arising from social networking use. It is being hosted by Basel University's Institute of Media studies.
"Social networking is one of the most important recent developments in youth culture and Facebook is right now the biggest social network on the internet," said Ulla Autenrieth, one of the organisers of the Netcultures conference.
There are more than 300 million Facebook users worldwide, and 1.1 million of them in Switzerland. That's around one seventh of the population.
Autenrieth has also been working on a research project, Images of Youth on the Internet, which is backed by the Swiss National Science Foundation. It looks at how young people express themselves visually on social networking sites.
Researchers concentrated on the 12-24 years age group – those that use social networks most, with 80 per cent having profiles. They found that the most active ages were between 15 and 19 years old.
Overall, 15 to 17 years olds were the peak group: 75 per cent of them had a profile on Facebook, for example. Other popular sites include the German student portal StudiVZ and Netlog, a Belgium-based site aimed at the European youth demographic.
« Social networking is one of the most important recent developments in youth culture. » Ulla Autenrieth, Basel University Defining yourself
"Adolescence is a time when you build up your identity. You look at who you are and what defines you as a person and what kinds of friends and hobbies you have," Autenrieth told swissinfo.ch.
"You consider how you want others to see you... social networking sites are a good tool to build up a kind of identity and to communicate this to others."
This involves a lot of trial and error, the sociology expert explained. "You can put something on your page, for example we have photos of teenagers who try out new hairstyles or show off their new clothes and they get positive or negative feedback from their friends."
Younger web users do not generally have their own computers or internet access and their parents are still keeping an eye on their net use, she added.
The over 30s, while represented on Facebook and its competitors, are not as digital savvy as the younger generation, who grew up with the net.
Delicate matters
However, the Basel University research did not find that social networking had replaced normal interaction among the "Facebook generation".
The team conducted telephone interviews with around 650 teenagers and young adults to ask them about what kind of communication they used for situations like flirting, getting in touch with new people or splitting up in relationships.
"We found that communication on social networks is more for everyday than for more delicate things. It's for saying hello and keeping in touch," said Autenrieth.
"The closer a relationship is, the more people use telephone or email or make an effort to meet people face to face."
These net users were found to be well aware of security risks, such as private data being exposed. Network sites have also made a huge effort to develop protection tools including restricting access to profiles. But there is a gap in practice among teenagers.
Security gap
"All are aware but not all can handle the in an appropriate way, there are some who are more able to use the special tools than others," said Autenrieth.
Worldwide it is mostly teens using social networking sites like Facebook but there are some differences. In the United States, MySpace is very popular and in Germany, StudiVZ and SchülerVZ. Swiss youngsters like Netlog, and switch to Facebook at around 16 years old.
Twitter, which only attracts a small following in Switzerland at the moment, is becoming more important in the overall social networking scene, said the researcher.
"People are also closing their Facebook profiles because they are getting tired with it," pointed out Autenrieth. But this won't stop its dominance. "It will even grow," she said.
Isobel Leybold-Johnson, swissinfo.ch
