Researching why she’s getting so many Friendster invites, danah boyd discovered that teenagers are mobbing the system by claiming to be much older, often seniors; it looks as though 69 is the most popular age. “I’m stunned that Friendster was so vigilant in going after Fakesters because it was ruining search and they weren’t viable customers, but they ignore the Fakesters that could open them up to hefty legal suits. …” Friendster made such a big deal about phony identities that it chased off its core audience, but it has left these kids alone: “It seems as though [Friendster’s] efforts to configure the users didn’t work so well.”
Teens skunkworking into Friendster
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2 responses to “Teens skunkworking into Friendster”
Why do you call that “skunkworking”? To me, skunkworks are like a secret research-and-development project.
Hm. I haven’t used the word myself before; from the contexts I’ve heard it in, I had assumed it meant something more general — “secret doings”, “behind the scenes action”.