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Social Networking and Japanese Children

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Background Social networking is not new, but really a part of human culture ever since prehistory. However, social networking to the nth level, globally and through the Internet, is clearly a late-20th, early 21st century, phenomenon. Social networks are social structures in which there are ties between individuals. These individuals form clusters of like-minded interests, commonalities, and/or cultural communities. Modern social networking sites began to become extremely popular when two things happened: 1) there was a threshold of users who had the technology for reliable and regular access to the Internet, and; 2) when technology allowed for the speed and ease of use so that even younger users would have the ability to utilize these networks to evolve in their own relationships (Scott, 2000). Thus, it is not only the Internet that drives usage of these networks, but miniaturization of telecommunications technology, video, inexpensive access, international availability, and cultural acceptance. A logical outgrowth of this became social networking services, or online platforms that assist users in building networks or relations (Facebook, My Space, Twitter, etc.). These sites have become international in scope, and now attract more than (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). Japan, for instance, has a 78.4 per cent penetration of internet users, equivalent to about 99.2 million users. Of those users, about 51%, or almost 51 million people use social networks on a regular (multiple times

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