Social networks are gigantic. However, there’s a clear winner in the field of social networking, and that would be Facebook. With over 95 million active users, Facebook continues to grow and add new features while MySpace, the initiator of the market and the first social networking website to break into the mainstream, lags behind with 65 million people. The divide is growing, as demographic information indicates that the two websites are starting to divide along social and class lines.
Take, for example, this quote from the NPR article. “I have friends who are white,” says 19-year-old Diego Luna. “They are my white people friends and they are mostly on Facebook. That’s why I use Facebook. My brown people are on MySpace.”
This is a trend I’ve noticed for awhile now. No, not Hispanics favoring MySpace, but a fragmentation of the audience. Some people love MySpace because it’s so customizable. You can make your profile look like anything you want. Some people hate MySpace because most people’s profiles look like an explosion in a glitter factory. Facebook is seen as the safer and classier of the two, because it’s a lot easier to nagivate and a lot less prone to browser crashing. It’s the professional site, and MySpace is for kids.
As for me? I hate them both equally, because I hate getting spammed with email invitations to stupid games, big lists of random status updates, and the fact that, instead of talking to me, my friends will just tell me to go look at their page. While it supposedly brings you together with your friends, it’s akin to watching someone on TV. It’s a false companionship filtered through layers of self-editing.
Tags: business, myspace, facebook, social networking, advertising, online communities, demographics, race determines social networking favorites
