Losing the spark with spazzy social networks
When we first met, there were definite sparks. This colorful guy was the type of person that would change his appearance on the drop of a dime, knew my favorite songs, and even got along with most of my friends. But things changed as someone better came along. He was educated, simple, and had some backbone. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t change certain things about him. As a constellation, he promised to let me add things to his personality, making him more complete.
The first flashy gentlemen I was referring to is my dear friend Myspace. The second, who swept me off my feet, is none other than Mr. Facebook. I’ve been with Myspace longer than Facebook, but I can’t help but be a little disenchanted by it. This parallel or personification is justified; being with a social network is a type of relationship. In this case, there are two “guys” vying for the users attention.
In one corner, you have Myspace. With its customizable HTML and glittery graphics that can cause your regular Joe to step into epileptic shock, it’s appealing to the ADD eye of America. Then there is classic blue and white Facebook, which started as a basic social network for elite colleges across the US, but has transformed into a 3rd party app makers dream. Both have more personality now than ever before with the number of Myspace page generators and Facebook apps multiplying by the second, plus Facebook allowing everyone to log on. If both sites have grown to be theoretically similar, why is it that Myspace has turned into the used car salesman of social networks?
I believe that the people make the place, whether in reality or cyberspace. A recent study suggested the demographic that uses Facebook is educated and more affluent than those who use Myspace. Admittedly, many of my Facebook friends did attend University, while my Myspace homies are part of the labor force. Perhaps it is this divide in socioeconomic status that makes one site more attractive to one group over the other. In college, we are taught to streamline our thinking and focus on a goal. Facebook’s interface is just that; it has defined sections and parameters. Meanwhile, Myspace has no structure and allows complete freedom.
As I get older, I am growing more unattached to my Myspace page. I too have customized it, but I do not change it up so much anymore. With Facebook, I log in everyday and review different applications to add to my profile. I want to be interested in Myspace again, but with the sluggish updates and weekly messeges from Tom explaining the crashing issue of the week, it’s become pretty useless. If I didn’t have some of my best friends on Myspace, I would probably quit. Oh, and that Match.com guy–I would prefer if he too were on Facebook *wink wink.*
Loved the video :) Sorry your site keeps breaking! Arrrgh.
I’m so sorry you find Tim disenchanting. PS, I WROTE THE SCRIPT FOR THAT THING!
I couldn’t agree more. While I have a personal and music page on Myspace. I log in once a week, at most. Facebook on the other hand, I’m on at least once every day.
For me the big factor is that Facebook seems excel in the signal to noise ratio. Myspace is nothing but spam, ad’s, slow pages (on my mac), and face accounts. I get none of this with Facebook.
Never loved mySpace : too much ads, doesn’t seem to be organize enough, flashy pages, no real information in them… so no account there for me.
When i tried facebook, i immediatly loved it (ie. for privacy settings) and the possibilities are great with Facebook apps - even if i think sometimes there’s too much of them on some profiles :-)
There’s also Yahho who’s launching (on beta) his own social networking service called MASH… but for me, it’ far from competiting with Facecook. If you want an invite, let me know :-)