Danah boyd, the sharpest researcher on social networking services around, posts a great nugget from her field work. Many kids don't worry about losing their passwords for their MySpace and similar service accounts, and happily create a new profile. It gives them a chance to discard all the "Friends they don't know" in their buddy-lists and start over. Danah notes:
While this feeling of ephemerality is not universal amongst teens, it's far more prevalent than you'd ever see in adult culture and it has some significant implications for design:
* Focusing on "lock-in" will fail with these teens – they don't care if they lose track of something they put hours into building.
* Teens are not looking for universal anything; that's far too much of a burden if losing track of things is the norm.
* Paying for an account can help truly engaged teens remember their accounts (i haven't found any teen who permanently lost their MMO login) but it can also be a strong deterrent for those accustomed to starting over.I should note that i don't think that the answer is "help teens remember passwords." I actually think that this tendency to shed is advantageous in the way that we shed clothes every year because the "old me" is no longer relevant. Technology is a bit too obsessed with remembering; there's a lot of value in forgetting.
See also:
danah boyd on Facebook's 'privacy trainwreck'"
danah boyd talks social networks – video
Danah boyd's Friendster papers, all in one place
What social networks mean for friendship
danah on Orkut
boyd's social networks talk from ETCON
Revenge of the User: Lessons from Creator/User Battles ETCON talk notes
MSNBC: Social Networks Go to Work
