What Roles Are Played by Different Social Types Regarding Information Flow?

Social types have been shown to play an important role in the flow of information [40

, 41], Social types were hypothesized to be an important factor for preteens in how they sought and used information, particularly in light of their developing social worlds. Little is known, however, about how tweens frame social types, what roles they assign and how, and what impact this has on their information-seeking behavior.

In the focus groups, tweens were asked to discuss how they shared information with other persons, including friends, family, teachers, and strangers. Using Mark Granoveter's [53] concept of strong and weak ties, the tweens were asked to differentiate between strong and weak relationships and how this influenced their choices to share information and the Links Of London Bracelets information they might spontaneously share. Tweens displayed a vetting process that relied heavily on affective concerns, trust, and specifically the duration of relationships: longer relationships were deemed to be qualitatively better and more stable for interpersonal information-sharing. Tweens distinguished levels of social interaction within their own peer group as well as with the adult peer group.

Personal information and needs were shared only with strong ties, and this was particularly true of information that had potentially high social costs associated (e.g., "crushes" or relationships). Information shared with weak ties strangers or mere acquaintances might be logistical (directions, time, and way-finding) or of little social consequence. The strongest evidence for social types and how this influences information flow came from the individual interviews. Tweens had widely variant notions of the adult social type as a source of information. Parents and teachers were seen as distinct types rather than as roles that adults play within a social type. Thus, varying levels of knowledge were associated with teachers and parents, enabling them to answer different types of questions. Tweens framed this in terms of types of questions that could be asked of different persons. There emerged a "kid question" type, for example, that was unsuitable for asking adults, often based on the perceived consequences or costs associated with seeking different kinds of information. These different social types and resulting questions types were linked to trust, affect, and social barriers that were a product of institutional and family structures that both afforded and constrained information flow.

Sydney (University) suggested that posing questions to friends was a way of demonstrating some autonomy from adults: "Sometimes I can ask my friends, and they'll tell me. And so I don't always need an adult's help." Aeisha (Ministry) added a different spin, saying that sometimes "it's a question that's meant for a kid to answer, that an adult might not understand." The idea that there are kid questions asked of peers and adult questions reserved for adults was a prevalent theme. Peyton (University), who earlier perceived that adults are not capable of understanding some preteen issues, suggested in the following exchange that adults make communication difficult between adults and preteens:

Peyton: They might not understand what you're going through, so they'll just automatically give an adult answer instead of a kid answer so we could understand Instead of us getting in trouble or something.

Interviewer: So adults make it hard for kids to talk to other kids

Peyton: No, not other kids. They make it hard for us [preteens] to talk to them [adults].

According to Peyton, tweens seek information from their peers on social issues because they have difficulty communicating with adults, who might otherwise be a preferred source. He Links Of London Charms distinguishes between two types of answers: kid answers, which can be understood by young people, and adult answers, which are perceived by tweens as inappropriate and punitive. Mr. Henderson (University) said it would be "uncomfortable" to ask certain questions of adults. Rose (University) explained that parents will inadvertently embarrass tweens in public if they are aware of information that is "really personal," such as "the boy you like." Within a peer group, our participants said that there are "close friends" or "good friends" whom one can trust with more sensitive information. Other members of the peer group may be called friends, but they are less trustworthy people whom Peyton described "friends that I just say 'hi' and 'bye' to." In short, within the broader "friends" social type, the tweens identified friends by tie strength and shared different information on this basis.

What Roles Are Played by Different Social Types Regarding Information Flow?

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