Technicultr

Should Social Networking Sites Collect Ethnic Information?

We're fast approaching the conclusion of the 2010 U.S. Census and public and private institutions alike are waiting expectantly to see the level of growth that has occurred in the U.S. population generally, and in many cases with particular attention to the various multicultural populations in the U.S.

But in the land of social media most sites do not collect information on user ethnicity. MySpace is the only site that does collect demographic information from its users; Twitter collects none. In between are sites like Facebook and countless others that offer to collect some information about their users.

On one hand, the decision to collect information is one that is subject only to the founder's wishes and applicable law. But at the same time, with increasing research on social media user demographics and online behavior, attempts to ascertain user ethnicity (without asking the users), and a burgeoning opportunity for companies and non-profit organizations to connect with hard-to-reach demographics, there is evidently interest in the data and certainly more at stake than simple identification.

We've asked five experts to weigh in on whether social networking sites should collect ethnic data. Their responses are below.

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