The Virtual Nightclub. Adolescents From Low-Income Sectors Search For Their Couples Through Facebook

DIEGO BASILE; JOAQUÍN LINNE

Online Courtship: Interpersonal Interactions across Borders

Institute of Network Cultures

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015; p. 49 - 56

The aim of this research paper is to explore and describe the ways in which adolescents of popular sectors of Buenos Aires City search for Internet dating through the social network Facebook. For this, we investigate the information they provide in their profiles, the strategies that deploy to seduce and gain visibility in the walls of their community of peers, on the advantages and disadvantages about dating through social network and gender differences. At the methodological level, in this research mixed type, we conducted, on a quantitative level, a survey of adolescents of popular sectors of the City of Buenos Aires (n: 150); on a qualitative level, we have made observations and in-depth interviews to 25 adolescents from popular schools, cybercafes and community centers, as well as virtual observations through Facebook. The main findings were that the personal photos and statements of "feeling state" function as central to the presentation of self among adolescents, as well as for powering the sociability through feedback.