Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

Social Networks and Maori

I finally succumbed to perpetual requests from family and close friends to create a Bebo.com account.
We know that Hi5.com is preferred by Thai’s and Orkut by South Americans, FaceBook.com and MySpace.com by a good international mixture.
An observation that most intrigues me is that Bebo.com is, as is documented fact more for the younger generations (Gen M etc). But the most interesting observation that i have noticed is that is appears to be used more by Maori and Polynesian people of all ages and backgrounds.
I am not aware of any academic research into this observation. I am assuming that Maori and Polynesian over representation is for several reasons:
1. Maori are tribal/family/extended family orientated and often live away from each other. For people like me who have traditionally shied away from Bebo.com can either ignore it and not keep in contact with the family or join Bebo.com.
2. Bebo.com appearance is visually customisable and a highly visual application compared to other social networks.

3. In New Zealand TV programs including many Maori audience driven programs advertise Bebo fan pages and in fact many of the presenters have personal Bebo.com pages..
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DISCLAIMER: This post is the personal opinion of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and is not reflective of the opinions of any organisation that Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a member of or associates with, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

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