African American Girls on MySpace: Artistic Expression, Viral Marketing and Corporate Presence - Tapa blanda

This study examined 50 MySpace profiles constructed by 14-17 year old African American females attending a Los Angeles public high school during the 2007-8 academic year. The text, images and multimedia applications found in these profiles were analyzed in relation to gender and racial ideologies that permeate popular mass media. These public profiles function as intersectional digital bodies wherein signs and messages used to communicate and socialize with others are publicly broadcast on the Internet. MySpace is a corporate entity ripe for viral marketing and although advertising is part of its social fabric, most profiles in this sample were largely devoid of logos and did not link to corporate profiles as ?friends? within the network. These profiles did reveal images and text that were ideologically aligned with white, heterosexual love, Western standards of beauty and constructions of femininity. However, they did not transmit racist or homophobic ideologies via images, text or multimedia applications. Ultimately these profiles represent the creative and multifaceted digital identities constructed by a select group of young African American females on MySpace.

Michelle earned a B.A. degree in Sociology with minors in Women Studies and African American Studies from the University of California, Irvine and a M.S. degree from the School of Justice & Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. She now serves as the Academic Success Specialist for the Film & Media Studies program at ASU.