Social Networking and Racism

In the article “Theorizing Race and Racism on the Web” Jesse Daniels examines how digital interactions can lead to racism despite the perceived “facelessness” of the internet, as well as how this affects online communities where identity often develops. At one point in the article he specifically focuses on how interactions on social networking sites can reveal and lead to racism, sometimes without the perpetrator being aware of it, such as when it is unconscious. The two main sites discussed in the article were MySpace and Facebook. Regarding the two, Daniels says “Watkins found that the same racialized language used to differentiate between safe and unsafe people and communities was used to describe Facebook and MySpace” (8). The “white flight” from MySpace to Facebook made people think they were joining a cleaner, friendlier website as they left an inferior one behind. In reality, it was only as clean as they made it.

Recently, the police in Norfolk, England were contacted after a person posted a racistcomment on a banter/insult facebook page for soccer team managed by a black man.  Although this is only one example, it seems a recurring theme that it is, in actuality, Facebook that is “trashy”, and certainly not “clean” or “trustworthy” like people initially thought. There have been several articles regarding racism on Facebook recently, and almost all of the perpetrators were white. Many of them were contacted by the police for hate-crime related sentiments. Some, however, were just disrespectful without actually being threatening, leaving others to marvel at their ignorance. Although digital demographics are able to shift very quickly, Daniels assumption that Facebook is more “white” may still hold true. What does not hold true is those users’ assumptions that it is a superior site and their presence makes it better.