Law School & The Web of Group Affiliation: Socializing, Socialization, and Social Network Site Use Among Law Students, 27 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 325 (2010)

Online social network sites (“SNS”) have emerged as a significant socio-technical phenomenon in the past several years. Scholars from various disciplines have examined these sites to develop a better understanding of their social significance and implications from a variety of perspectives. Within the burgeoning field of SNS studies, one strand of work focuses on the place of SNSs in students’ educational experiences and the potential pedagogical applications of SNSs. However, the SNS phenomenon generally, and its educational/pedagogical significance in particular, have received scant attention from legal scholars.

This article examines the place of SNSs within the contemporary law school experience, through a case-study of students at one law school. The article gauges differences in Facebook by students’ age, gender, race/ethnicity, and other characteristics and analyzes students’ Facebook communications as they pertain to the performance of law student identity and role.