Myspace V.S Facebook
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November 9, 2009
Filed under Featured, News
By: Hayle Hudson
We all know and love Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and all the other sites in between. Right now these socially networking sites are in a tough race to be the new “thing”.
According to Experian Hitwise, a site that provides insight on how many users use each and every site, each and everyday. As of now, Facebook and Twitter are “IN”, and sadly, Myspace is out.
According to companies that monitor Internet traffic Facebook is the Number One social network in the U.S. with a whooping total of more than 300 million users on Facebook. 50% of those users log in everyday, that’s 150 million people on Facebook. The average facebook user has 130 friends, more than 600 million minutes are spent on Facebook world wide, more than 40 million status updates each day, and more than 2 billion photos are uploaded each month.
Right now Twitter’s hotness isn’t so hot. It now ranks at a low 4th place on the top list. Twitter is the newest site to join the social network. It lets users send and receive messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters and much like facebook, is displayed on the user’s profile. But those tweets aren’t just posted, they are sent to all your friends, which are called “followers”. Since it’s creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has become noticeably popular worldwide. In February 2009 Twitter has a monthly growth of 1,382 percent. Twitter has not given out any direct information about how many users they currently have so it’s hard to know. But it’s averaged any where between 4 to 10 million users.
Myspace is doing all it can to keep itself “cool” in they eyes of the media. They in a rush to develop more compelling music and video services. They need something to catch people’s attention, something good and something quick.
It’s still managing to hang on to its spot at Number Two on the list. Myspace used to be the biggest thing in social networking. According to Hitwise, Myspace still has a hold on 30% of the social networking market. But that is still less than the 60% it held at this time last year. Myspace had 106 million users in November of 2006 and has been growing by about 230,000 users a day. Currently Myspace has about 257 million users.
Most people who are active on social networking sites have a profile on both Myspace and Facebook, maybe even more. Despite being on both sites, each user almost always has a preference for one site over the other. “I prefer Myspace because of the music” says Junior Josie Smith Hudson. While others think differently, “I like Facebook more, it just seems more, clean, I guess. The atmospheres are just so different.” Says Ellie Sullivan, a junior here at Mountain View. And some people could truly care less, “they’re close enough to the same thing that it doesn’t really matter to me,” says Sophmore Miryssa Espinoza. Then fellow SophmoreTori McGee pitched in “yeah, they’re pretty much the same, I don’t see the big deal”.
They are some significant differences between these two sites, and that’s mainly why people choose one over another.
There are the basic differences between these rivals, Myspace has music while Facebook does not, at least not yet. But Facebook has more Applications, which to some are too confusing. Facebook isn’t unique; you can’t design your own profile like you can on Myspace. The way you like to have your profile set up and the applications you’d want to use, all play a major part in what sites attracts certain users. Then there are some differences us users don’t really see much. Many people don’t know but there’s been an interesting shift in who uses what site. Myspace began as a place for teenagers to hang out and chat. And Facebook was originally created for college students (when it first started, you actually needed a college email to sign up). As the two sites have grown, their users have changed. These days teens and college students can be found on both sites.
According to Nation Public Radio or NPR, overall social networking in the U.S increased 62% from Sept. 2008 to Sept. 2009. If you talk to any student at any school and you’ll probably find that many kids used to use Myspace, but Facebook is where it’s at now. Facebook is taking over more and more of the social networking space in the U.S. it had an estimated 95.5 million U.S visitors in September alone. Keep in mind that is only the U.S. Myspace is still right behind them with 65.7 million U.S visits in September. However, numbers don’t explain it all, the story becomes more complicated when you hear different teens point of views.
“I only use Myspace so I guess I prefer that one.” Said Stephen Langberg, Senior at MVHS. Another Senior, Chelsea Gibson says “ I don’t have a facebook and I barley ever check my Myspace, so I could really care less about what one is cool-er”
Ultimately, which social networking site your prefer really depends on what your actually looking for in a site. In addition to Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, there are numerous other sites. It is important to remember that the popularity of these kind of sites will wax and wane over time. If you’re just looking for the latest trend, then you might as well just jump from site to site, but if you’re looking for a place where you can really connect to, then just find one you like and stick to it.
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