Elite dominate net
By Techgirl

Has the internet made us a more democratic and egalitarian society?  After all, many of the techies in Bangalore who rallied for the wonderful cause of Anna Hazare did so using electronic media.

While the net has made the world more democratic, a UC Berkley Study shows how elites still dominate the internet and the working class is badly under represented.

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Anyone with Internet access can generate online content and influence public opinion, according to popular belief. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the social Web is becoming more of a playground for the affluent than a digital democracy.

Despite the proliferation of social media  – with Twitter and Facebook touted as playing pivotal roles in such pro-democracy movements as the Arab Spring –  the bulk of today’s blogs, websites and video-sharing sites represent the perspectives of college-educated, Web 2.0-savvy users, the study says.

“Having Internet access is not enough. Even among people online, those who are digital producers are much more likely to have higher incomes and educational levels,” said Jen Schradie, a doctoral candidate in sociology at UC Berkeley and author of the study published in the May online issue of Poetics, a Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts.

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The study also found that college graduates are 1.5 times more likely to be bloggers than are high school graduates; twice as likely to post  photos and videos and three times more likely to post an online rating or comment.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.