Branded selves : how children in Norway relate to marketing on a social network site
Journal article, Peer reviewed
This is an electronic version of an article published in journal of children and media;3 (3), 2009. journal of children and media is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ u r l: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482790902999926

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Date
2009-07-22Metadata
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Original version
Skaar, H. (2009). Branded selves : how children in Norway relate to marketing on a social network site. Journal of children and media. 3 (3), 249 - 267 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482790902999926Abstract
Theories of branding and self presentation inform an ethnographic study of how a group of
classmates aged 11–12 construct identities by use of the brands and branded resources made
available to them on the social network site and elsewhere on the Internet. In the analysis these
resources are categorized as space, texts and tools. In using them the young people adopt
commercial strategies for presentation of the self. Generally speaking, these users relate their self
presentation to brands and branded resources in two different ways: either as collectors or as
elaborators. Simple collection of branded resources appears to need less work and be more
convincing and more unassailable than elaborating them into their digital self presentations. This
gives rise to a disparity between the rich range of attractive and stimulating resources provided by
marketers and the level of creativity shown when young users draw on them. Social competition
plays a role in reinforcing a uniform use of brands and branded resources. This raises the threshold
for free development of individual creativity in the production of digital self presentations on the
commercial website.