Online social networks’ role in alternative schooling choices
For a few years, France has witnessed the development of so-called “alternative” schooling choices. In this article, we focus on the influence of online networks upon these choices. This article is based on various data collecting parents’ speeches: public speaking, biographical interviews, informal conversations, online surveys and observation of online forums. We highlight the role of the Internet as a showcase of educative and schooling possibilities and detail the development of parental peer groups. Parents have access to new information, not otherwise available in their close circle, through users’ testimonies, but also selected and filtered by peers in order to match their needs as closely as possible in order to make school choices. Without omitting parental predispositions in the decision-making process, there is a reinforcement and confirmation of their educative orientations by these peer groups.