A short observation for my Sunday musing. I was telling one of my friends who lives outside the city casually last night that people tend to stay on Facebook roughly half as long as MySpace, so although Myspace cannot compete with Facebook’s user growth once people are on there they stay for longer. To which she responded “that’s because we spend so long waiting for MySpace to load. It takes forever”. Ahh. the perils of the internet, here in Australia we are not blessed with the super-quick connections of other nations, so sometimes things are a bit painful… it depends on your location as to what speed is possible. For some of us here YouTube is just not a possibility… and apparently neither is MySpace.
I also just had another thought on this one… Now I must admit my general lack of interest and therefore partiality in MySpace compared to Facebook for a number of reasons; I’m getting too old to walk into a teenager’s virtual bedroom, I want to learn about what all my friends are doing easily in one place (a contentious reason to put here I know), entering a site that starts blaring any music that I have to turn off annoys me chances are I have iTunes running already so I have to scramble for the mute button, the personalisation may be cool but it is also messy and sometimes retina burning (bright pink on green *what* are you thinking?!), and finally- it takes too long to load on my weak wireless connection. So now I’ve gotten that off my chest… my other thought is this: If a website is simple to use, wouldn’t it make sense in a way that we spend less time there than a complex one? Perhaps the average time per use on Facebook has declined to pre-hype levels with the new interface is because it is simple to use? (?!!?) and all our stuff is in one place meaning we have to spend less time there because the information we want is easier to get? i.e. people are using the new interface differently and for different means than previously (note: I am not weighing into the debate about the merits of the new v old facebook here).
That’s my Sunday food for thought. So now it’s off to take some more photos for my Flickr… can’t take photos to put on the computer while sitting at the computer after all 
Filed under: social technology | Tagged: facebook, internet speed, myspace, nablopomo, technology, youtube
I have been a myspace user since shortly after its inception. I have tried facebook twice and deleted my profile both times. I prefer myspace’s privacy options. And, it seems to center around blogging. Most of my friends are writers and they prefer it to facebook as well. Maybe that’s part of the myspace appeal.
Thanks Donna, you’ve raised some interesting points. Would it be fair to say MySpace is more centred around the individual (i.e. blog posts front and centre etc)? I agree that facebook’s blogging capacities aren’t as easy to find or well used. I think your suggestion would also go toward explaining the amount of time people spend myspace and facebook.
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I use both, many people I know use both. Facebook has all those apps which are fun, myspace is just pretty much photo’s. Thats how I see it.
I forgot to add, Facebook is good as you can read wall posts between to people, where as myspace, to see what people are saying, you have to sort through there comments which takes time. Facebook’s Wall is much better then MySpace Comments
We have now banned all social networking sites at work — no one is allowed to visit them during office hours. And surprise…surprise, some of us have closed our Facebook accounts.
It’s not worth the hassle.
Nice blog by the way
I avoided Facebook for a long time and then took a stab at it for work-related reasons. So far I don’t have the time to figure it out. Before I joined Facebook, I joined MySpace after a friend bugged me about doing it.
Made my MySpace profile private a long time ago, but I didn’t spend as much time on it as some others did ever. I joined it to drive traffic to another site, which I took offline when I moved back home, and I noticed in my stats that I had fewer visitors following links from MySpace than I had from other sites. So, concluded people at MySpace stay at MySpace. It’s a sticky site and I don’t know why exactly. My conclusion is based on highly subjective data, however.
I suspect that MySpace has more people with time on their hands.
It’s an interesting question really isn’t it. I’ve heard quite a few people who were on MySpace say “So far I don’t have the time to figure it out” like you did. I guess the two sites are different, with different dynamics and different users. I’m interested in your assessment of MySpace as a “sticky site” – I wonder what makes a site “sticky”.
I completely agree on the “stickiness” of myspace. Because all the information is not there and because of the way myspace is laid out (where advertisements are like land mines), it makes it a little more difficult to navigate. Facebook has two toolbars, one up top and one on the bottom, that makes it easier to reach any portion of the site. I used myspace extensively for a long time and particularly enjoyed the customization of the page — it really is “my” space. When I first joined Facebook I was a little bummed that it lacked such freedom for customization, but now I’m on it more because I feel like it’s a better social networking site, where as myspace is more of an individual’s site. Again, true to its name.
On myspace, the most time was spent correcting my layout, changing my “About Me,” and finding songs to stick there — I wanted to present myself “properly.”
On Facebook, I don’t get to do those things, and the most I get to do is edit my information, upload photos and videos, and add “notes,” all of which are meant to be shared with friends and family. I feel like Facebook is more focused on actually bringing people together as opposed to have them turn inward to focus on themselves. It is the ultimate social networking site.