SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE STATISTICS

• MySpace: over 110 million monthly active users

• Facebook: approximately 60 million active users

• Facebook has over 150,000 new registrations daily, growing three times as fast as MySpace

• Americans spend about 12% of all their Internet time on MySpace

• 55% of all online American youths ages 12-17 have created profiles at social networking sites; 48% visiting social networking sites at least once a day

• 65% of Facebook users also have a MySpace account

• MySpace has more page views than any other website in the world — more than 1.3 billion a day

Citations:

Leary, B. (2007, November). Social networking. Network Journal, 15(2), 30.  Retrieved February 2, 2008, from ProQuest.

Hayes, S. (2007, December). The myspace culture. Voices From the Middle, 15(2), 69-70. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from ProQuest.

Kirkpatrick, D. (2007, October 1). Myspace strikes back. Fortune, 156(7), 128. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from ProQuest.

Stelter, B. (2008, January 21). From myspace to yourspace.  New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/technology/21myspace.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=myspace&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Locke, L. (2007, July 17). The future of facebook. Time. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1644040,00.htmli

MYSPACE FEATURES

• Friend Comments

• Profile Customization

• Bulletins

• Groups

• MySpace Music

• MySpaceIM

• MySpaceTV

• MySpace Mobile

• MySpace News (via RSS feeds)

• MySpace Classifieds

FACEBOOK FEATURES

• The Wall• Photos

• Gifts

• Marketplace

• Pokes

• Status

• Events

• Applications (third-party)

• Facebook Video

SOCIAL NETWORKING SURVEY RESULTS

1. What do you primarily use MySpace or Facebook for? • Networking/communication tool (7)• Entertainment (4)• Reconnecting with old friends (3)• Post/read blogs (3)

2. What is your least favorite aspect of MySpace or Facebook?• Privacy (3)• Technical issues (2)• Advertisements (2)• Social stigma (MySpace) (1)• Messy profiles (MySpace) (1)• Impersonal (1)• Unwanted friend requests/message (MySpace) (1)• Too many social networking sites to keep up with (1)

3. How frequently do you visit MySpace or Facebook?• Daily (4)• Monthly (3)• Weekly (1)

4. Is there an additional feature/function of MySpace or Facebook that you'd like to see?• Third party applications (MySpace) (2)• More sort features (1)

COMPARISON (APPLES TO ORANGES?)

Facebook MySpace

Target demographic College age and young professionals, more business networks

Youth culture and Gen X/Y

Site function “Social utility” that fosters existing relationships, social and business networking, communicating efficiently

Creating new relationships, finding old acquaintances, media content (music and pop culture)

Privacy Built in privacy features set on default

Takes time and know-how to set up privacy features

Third-party applications Yes No, but possibly in near future

Interface design personalization Has drag and drop features, but cannot change profile design

Much more flexibility, but often profiles become too messy

Advertisements Yes, but fewer than MySpace Far too many, which adds to clutter of site

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What are some new ways we could utilize the social networking technology? Schools, businesses, etc.?

• Organizations like Nordstrom, do not allow employees to display their vocation on social networking sites. How can online personal disclosure negatively impact an individual or an organization?

• MySpace has recently rolled out a design overhaul of their homepage due to comments that Facebook’s interface is more aesthetically pleasing. In what other ways could MySpace and Facebook evolve to keep up with their competitors?