The recent rapid expansion of Facebook has largely been attributed to Facebook's capacity to tap a new audience for social neworking - slightly older than the MySpace crowd. ZDNet's Steve O'Hear borrows an analogy from Richard Wray and fleshes it out in this way:
... essentially I see the two giants generally catering for the needs of different demographics — hence their distinct differences in terms of layout and functionality.
Writing in today’s Guardian newspaper, Richard Wray came up with a great analogy:
Facebook, like most internet successes, taps into innate real life traits - curiosity, sociability and sharing. If MySpace is as messy and chaotic as a teenager’s bedroom, Facebook is the frenzied networking of a cocktail party, delivering an unending reel of “news” on the lives of your friends.
A teenager’s bedroom, plastered with posters (and brands) and with continuous background music, sounds a lot like a MySpace profile. Add into the room a teenager or two who are always on the phone or text messaging friends about gossip or the hottest new band — and very generally speaking, you’ve nailed much of the appeal of MySpace. The fact that teenagers are increasingly using the site’s internal messaging system over email says it all. Additionally, those posters on the wall can be other user’s profiles, which include bands and brands vying for wall space.
In contrast, Facebook is much more popular amongst college students and graduates/professionals (due to it’s University roots). The site’s design is far less customizable — you can’t decorate your room. Instead, any customization is about deciding what functionality to include. This is even more so now that third parties can set-up-shop on the site and add new features which fulfill every possible need. I logged into Facebook today to accept a few friend requests, and noticed a professional networking event, that one of my contacts was looking to hire, and another had a rather nice laptop for sale. Getting that info took seconds due to Facebook’s controlled and efficient interface. Completely different to MySpace.
Read more here. However, Boing Boing has drawn my attention to a piece by Dannah Boyd that describes the respective demographics in a different way. She posits that well-to-do, stable American teens with "good prospects" end up on Facebook, while poor, queer, marginal and non-white teens end up on MySpace:
The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.
MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. Teens who are really into music or in a band are on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.
Read more here. I'm not sure whether I agree with this categorisation or not, but it is a perspective worth thinking about.
Your site analysis is flawed. As a 20 year old with one of each and many friends on both; you're missing the point.
Facebook is used to keep in touch with people in your classes, people you meet at school and people you went to school with in the past.
Myspace is about the here and now of the outside world. Many more events and parties are posted on Myspace and facebook as well as bands.
Many people are leaving Myspace due to the Rupert Murdoch factor.
Posted by: Kyle | Sunday, 11 November 2007 at 02:48 AM