Thursday, August 9, 2007

Developments in the Big Debate

Facebook v. MySpace
Is it a socio-economic thing?

In writing this entry, I had meant to get into the various socio-economic differences between my Facebook friends and MySpace friends, which effectively divide them along class lines. However, I didn't want to mistakenly alienate anyone by drawing attention to those differences.

Today, I opened up my MSN homepage and saw this article which describes the class distinctions teens are seeing among their friends on each social networking site, and how many teens are switching to Facebook in the hopes of getting into the "college set" before college. The articles states that, "Affluent kids from educated, well-to-do families have been fleeing MySpace for Facebook since it opened registration to the general public in September, while working-class kids still flock to MySpace."

I am one of those "kids" (not so much "teen" as "in my twenties") who flew the coop of Myspace to the affluently crowded nest of Facebook, and was immediately innundated with long-lost university friends and old high school acquaintances who are now college graduates. However, I must disagree with the author in that, I didn't flee to Facebook because, "Constant local news stories on predators targeting kids on MySpace further alienated the good kids." Rather, I just noticed that more of my friends were on Facebook, and I wanted to reconnect.

Take what you will from this article, and think what you will about the Big Debate of Facebook V. MySpace. All I can share with you is my experience on both networks, and my reasons for switching. This is, after all, just one girl's opinion.

2 comments:

clare said...

facebook is insane now, though, dont you think? comparing people, super poking people, sending gifts, favorite music links and movie posters, top friends... i'd rather stick with myspace, as sad as that sounds. :)

p.s. just came across your blog a bit randomly, hope you dont mind!

Mandi said...

Unfortunately, my wonderment with Facebook is based on having just joined last week, and I didn't get to experience it as it once was. I just personally have more friends and long-lost contacts on Facebook and like it better for that reason.

And I found it extremely interesting that I immediately noticed a difference between my friends on both networks, and then read the MSN article eluding to that phenomenon.

Feel free to check back once in a while, I enjoy hearing what people have to say about a subject. Hopefully I will be posting in a somewhat regular manner.