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Friendship 85teens use social media to do what they have been doing—socialize withfriends, negotiate peer groups, flirt, share stories, and simply hang out.At the same time, networked publics provide opportunities for alwaysonaccess to peer communication, new kinds of authoring of public identities,public display of connectedness, and access to information aboutothers. In the sections to follow, we describe how these dynamics reinforceexisting friendship patterns as well as constitute new kinds of socialarrangements.Box 2.1 Sharing Snapshots of Teen Friendship and LoveKatynka Z. MartínezIt is not uncommon for Stephanie to call Sandra so that they can plantheir outfits or hairstyles in anticipation of the next day of school. The twosixteen-year-olds are best friends. They live in a low-income urban area of LosAngeles and attend a public school thirty miles away from home. Stephanie,who identifies as Colombian and Irish, shares a bedroom with her mother.Her twenty-six-year-old brother sleeps in the converted den of their condominiumapartment. I met Stephanie at the youth group of a local communitycenter. The center is less than a block away from her home. Stephanie volunteeredto take part in a general interview regarding how youth use digitalmedia. She also signed up for a more detailed diary study in which sherecorded her use of digital media during the course of two days. Stephaniewould receive gift certificates for participating in these interviews. She hadthe choice of receiving a certificate from iTunes, Amazon.com, or any otheronline vendor. She opted for a gift certificate from Best Buy, the homeelectronicsstore where she would buy her first digital camera.Photographs are important artifacts used by youth to capture their participationin teen rituals such as a prom or a quinceañera and also to documentless formal social escapades with friends. Sandra takes her digital camera toschool every day. On the days that she and Stephanie plan their outfits orhairstyles, they make it a point to take photos of themselves that they thenpost on MySpace. These photos, which they post on their individual profiles,receive many comments from friends. Typical comments include “You lookso pretty!” and “This was so much fun!”Before Stephanie had a digital camera, she would rely on Sandra to takepictures. Stephanie explained, “I have the iPod and she has a digital camera.We just work together.” Working together meant that the two girls sharedpasswords to their Photobucket accounts. Photobucket is an image-hostingand photo-sharing website. Individuals create an online album where they