So, there’s a blurb on Slashdot mentioning this article that talks about class divisions between users of MySpace and Facebook. It kinda talks about the history of each, especially how Facebook used to be exclusively for college students and, because of this, seems to be almost more “elitist” in its constituents. For example, Facebook users hated the idea of high school students joining their ranks late last year, and even with the infusion of “younger blood,” the site still seems to contain more educated users, while MySpace users tend to be even younger and less-educated.
One of the more interesting points in the article (about mid-way down) discusses the U.S. military, and more specifically how they banned the use of MySpace, but allow the use of Facebook. This is particularly interesting because officers tend to have Facebook accounts, while lower ranked soldiers have MySpace accounts upon military entry.
So yeah, the article talks about methodology and data recovery to a minor extent, and personally I think some of the “data” may be suspect, but it still brings up an interesting point or two… On a related note, I loathe MySpace… I hate going to MySpace pages and seeing terrible web design, horrible pictures in the background that make a given page nearly impossible for me to read, and I think it’s too easy for people to be able to access someone’s page. Now, on the other hand, I think it’s quite useful for getting your music “out there,” but a better-designed web page would be more useful…
Are different socio-economic classes using each site? Perhaps… I’m not sure this site represents anything definitive, but it does bring up a few interesting points and things to think about. I really don’t use MySpace, so I can’t attest to it… Facebook, however, is very clean and easy to use. I’d almost go so far as to say “elegant.” So, my bias toward Facebook is moreso about useability and access restrictions, rather than “the people that use it” (I’d like to think). Then again, as I scanned through some user groups around the time of the last election (Fall 2006), there were a lot of poorly educated high school students making up all kinds of “science” about stem cells…let alone frequently misspelling things…
Thoughts?
“Are difference socio-economic classes using each site?”
Kinda funny, given the spelling comment!
I hate you… 😉
Myspace is WAY too freaky for me. I finally gave in last summer and got a site because a few of my friends were forcing me to. I kept it up for about a month and every day I had about 5 new friend requests from strippers or creepy guys. NOT FOR ME!
There was an article last week on the Today Show about a new site that is similar to Facebook and MySpace but is being marketed to 30 and 40 somethings as a communication tool for scheduling social events, carpooling kids to ball practice, school events, etc etc. Guess I don’t see the difference between using a “Facebook type” site OR just using emails sent to your circle of friends and communicating that way. But I guess you 20 somethings will need a site to ‘move up’ to as you get older! tee hee hee!