Facebook Vs MySpace Analysis

MySpace and Facebook are two of the most popular social network sites on the internet. Both have been vying to be the top dog. Facebook appeals to the intellectual crowd while MySpace holds a bad reputation. But which one is the better of the two? Here is my analysis of the two social networking hubs.

Demographic Comparison
Myspace- MySpace is popular amongst teens and coincidentally has many more users than Facebook. Part of this is because MySpace has been around longer than Facebook and because MySpace targets bands, musicians, filmmakers and writers.

Danah Boyd conducted a study of the demographics of social networking in 2007 and said, "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. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers."

Facebook - Facebook was originally only offered to Harvard college students. It didn't open its doors to the rest of the public until 2006. Since then, more teenagers are moving from MySpace to Facebook.

When Facebook first started the only way to get an account was to be invited by another college student. Some have speculated that this is the main reason people using Facebook tend to be from a higher socio-economic class.

The Washington Post stated in its March 2008 article When Mom and Dad Asks to be a Facebook Friend, that "Facebook's estimated 66 million users are people 25 and older. More than half of the site's users are out of college."

Privacy Comparison
MySpace - MySpace has very little in the way of privacy protection. It only gives you the option to make your profile private or non-private. And those permissions pertain to all aspects of your MySpace profile.

Facebook - Facebook offers a bit more options for privacy control. Facebook profiles are hidden from public view unless the viewer is a part of your network.

There is an option to limit who sees your entire profile versus a partial profile. Anything posted about you on Facebook requires your confirmation. For example, if someone says that they dated you, you must confirm it before it is posted.

The photo tagging feature on Facebook also has privacy controls which MySpace does not have. You have the ability to decide whether or not someone tags you in a photo by simply removing that tag.

With Facebook news feeds you get to decide what goes on your news feed and what people will see on your mini-feed.

Profile Comparison
MySpace - MySpace profiles allow users to create pages that showcase creative expression by altering a bit of HTML code. Needless to say there are tons of chaotic MySpace profiles that resemble the aftermath of a hurricane.

The problem with Myspace profiles is that many, if not the majority, of them are loaded with as many bells and whistles as can be stuck on a page. Often times this means slow loading pages, pages that stretch across the screen, code errors, flashing backgrounds, multiple songs trying to launch at once at other things that overload the eyes and ears of the visitor.

Facebook - A Facebook profile is customizable but not as customizable as MySpace. You can not alter any HTML code to create your own layout like you can with MySpace. With Facebook everyone has the same background and text color. While this may seem like a bummer, the upside is that Facebook profiles are not as messy and chaotic as MySpace which means less eye strain and headaches.

Everyone on Facebook has the same visual aspects on their profile. The profile page is very clean with less advertisements and clutter.

In spite of not being able to customize your Facbook profile, there have been some allowances made with the program SpaceLift which takes the elements of your MySpace profile and incorportates them into your Facebook profile. You may not be able to import flashing backgrounds and fancy color schemes but it does allow you to have a little more leeway with your Facebook profile.

Friend Request Comparison
MySpace - MySpace has a problem with spam. Anyone can send a friend request and a great number of them are from people looking to post advertisements in your comment section. Part of this is due to the fact that anyone can have a MySpace page including pedophiles, porn stars and spammers. You are much more likely to receive spam on MySpace than on Facebook.

Facebook - Friend requests on Facebook are almost always from real people. It is rare to receive spam on Facebook because the majority of the people using Facebook are there to connect with old (and new) friends they maintained in college or the work place.

Feature Comparison
Myspace - MySpace by far has many more features than Facebook. MySpace lets you send messages, leave comments, post bulletins, send invitations, announce events, upload videos, create a blog, keep up to date on birthdays and make your own customizable calendar.

MySpace also allows you to customize the background color of comments and blog pages aside from your profile page.

The community features of MySpace is extensive. There are forums, groups, classified ads, MySpace TV, MySpace mobile and MySpace IM. The only downfall is that MySpace doesn't provide users with a way to get the attention of other users except for messages and IMs.

Facebook - Facebook is very much like MySpace with slightly less, but just as interesting, features. Again, Facebook has all the basic features of any social network such as uploading pictures, sending messages, comments and friend lists. However, Facebook has some features not found on MySpace.

One thing that Facebook has that MySpace doesn't is the ability to read digital Marvel comics right through your Facebook page. This is only one of many 3^rd party interactive apps available on Facebook.

Another feature found on Facebook is the "poke" feature. Facebook claims it's a useless feature but many users find it fun to "poke" other users. Poking someone simply puts a poke icon on their user page and they in turn can poke you back.

The one thing Facebook does not have is a blogging feature. What they do have is "notes." Notes are basically the same thing as a blog but with Facebook they are compatible with RSS feeds. Notes also work with Facebook's News Feeds which alerts friends to your posting.

One more interesting Facebook feature is the "share" feature which works much like Stumble Upon or Digg. This allows the user to post internet finds to their notes including YouTube or Google videos and pictures.

Lastly, Facebook's comments are different than those on MySpace. With Facebook comments are posted on "The Wall." The "Wall to Wall" feature allows readers to view all the comments people are posting to each other rather than only reading the comments on each individual's profile page.

In the end the decision to join Facebook or MySpace is entirely up to you and will depend on what you are looking for in a community. If you want the freedom to be anyone you can then MySpace is for you but if you are looking for old classmates then Facebook will be the place for you.