User profiles: Uses and appropriations of mobile phones by the youth in the city of Buenos Aires

Abstract

The article presents some results of the research about the uses and appropriations of mobile phones by young people between 20 and 29 years old belonging to middle-high sectors in the city of Buenos Aires. This research was carried out between August 2011 and September 2012. In this paper we propose to acknowledge the codes of significance that actors attach to this device and we make a description of the communication field using mobile phones as topography. This way we try to build classifications and categories that will allow us to synthesize and organize information gathered throughout the investigation. Thus, we have defined four user profiles: the resistant, the pragmatists, the enthusiasts and the heavy users; the first two make up the group of the “unattached” and the last two, the group of the “fans”.