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.