I think you're missing my point: what pressure of the environment ? Of course there's always pressure, particuarly amongst youngster who make peer pressure a fine art.... It's how you react to that pressure that shows the kind of person you are.
Facebook is not a big nasty 'thing' which creates peer pressure... it's just an outlet for expression.... and said expression is customizable... Thinking that others form you or feeling that you need to create a persona to be liked by them, now that is naive in the extreme.

__________________
Bring on Summer!

Unfortunatelly I think that the youngsters of today experience a huge peer pressure on the Internet. Young people still don't know who they are, they are in the process of defining it. That is when platforms such as Facebook and similar can be nasty.

Peer pressure is the same as it ever was, the internet doesn't make it any more powerful.

Why don't we consider these three points from your post along with the following - the answers to which may illustrate the points.

a) all your classmates are online and chat about their online discussions in the classroom the next day. They are often giggling at in-jokes. Do you feel that little Joe would feel pressure to be online ?

b) someone tells you that John (that fancies Suzie) has put something about you online, but you can't read it unless you sign up, but don't want anyone to know that you want to read it. Do you feel that little Joe would feel pressure to be online ?

c) Little Joe signs up and realises that everyones page is adorned with kisses and comments and links to friends in response to what they have displayed in their window. Do you feel that little Joe would feel pressure to put information online ? If so , what kind ? What characteristics do you think it would have ?
.....
and so it goes...

BigD

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You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

It makes it more distributed for sure.

No, but there is a paradigm shift in the nature of social groupings, visibility, how they form and are managed and conducted. The influence of peer pressure has to be considered in the new context.

example: I am looking of a new car. If ten of my friends , that I see rarely face-to-face had bought a new convertible BMW330, then until the advent of such online groupings I probably would never have found out, and the influence would not have been of any note.

BigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

But if little Joe also wasn't a member of the same gang, went to the same tennis club, hung out with the same in-crowd, he'd also not get the in-jokes...and he'd feel the same perssure to join that club, crowd etc....

It's all the same in real life. I repeat my point, Facebook is only one medium, it is not the creater of this pressure.

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Bring on Summer!

a) All your clasmates are in a little group, chatting about the party last night with a bunch of in-jokes, why weren't you invited?

b) Someone tells you that john has said something about you, but you can't find out what unless you do a dare, you don't want to do this dare, and don't want anyone to know you're remotely bothered anyway.

c) The cool kids get all the love, maybe I should dress like the cool kids.

I simply see no difference.

The visibility, ubiquitous and immediate nature of the communication, mean that the pressure is even more pronounced if judgements are made purely on published information and opinions.

The internet and specifically social groupings allow the rapid and wide distribution and dissemination of information which can be construed as inducing pressure. This information may not have hitherto been seen by the person affected.

bigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

True, but that is where it takes place these days, not in the school yard. And the consequences are therefore much bigger than they were in the past. Once you write something on the net it stays there forever. Also the audience, and thus the impact, is much, much bigger than in the local school yard.