Cultural researcher Danah Boyd explains some of the more subtle motivations of social networking in "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites". In the essay she expands on the concept of "public" spaces, impressions and attitudes to reveal the effects social networking may be having on today's youth. With social networking sites, youth are able to create a 'profile' for themselves and post 'comments' on each other's profiles. As Boyd puts it,
"Friends are publicly articulated, profiles are publicly viewed, and comments are publicly visible"She focuses specifically on myspace, but the implications of a "networked public" carry on to other sites. (The above picture is a typical example of a picture posted as a comment on myspace)
