If your friend down the hall doesn’t have Facebook , you immediately assume there is something overwhelmingly wrong, and this person may need either a life or a formal invitation to join civilization.
If, however, your lab partner has a MySpace , you regard said person as creepy, not mature enough for Facebook and un-cool.
Although MySpace has long been slightly more trafficked than Facebook, the increase of Facebook users and the features it offers may leave MySpace users lagging behind in second place in the popularity race.
“Facebook definitely appeals more to college-aged people. It’s an excellent way to procrastinate. Also, MySpace has a worse reputation. It’s seen as being more dangerous,” said Michele Maggiore ’10.
MySpace and Facebook, two of the most popular social networking sites in the country, have been butting heads over the past few years, vying for recognition as the most popular device for today’s generation to playfully banter, send flirtatious messages, check up on exes and sift through weekend photo shoots at the bar.
According to Alexa Internet, Inc. , a Web information site, MySpace is currently the third most trafficked Web site in the country. Facebook lags at its heels, boasting the title of fifth most visited Web site in the United States.
ComScore, Inc. , another information site, calls MySpace the most trafficked social networking site, while Facebook is listed as the second.
Despite the statistics, Facebook users seem more than ready to take the title of most popular.
According to data on its Web site, Facebook’s photo application is much more popular than MySpace’s equivalent. Facebook is also the No.1 photo-sharing application in the world.
“I choose Facebook over MySpace because all my college friends use it,” said Tara DaSilva ’10. “It’s a way to keep in contact with everyone.”
However, the very term “MySpace” may soon go extinct like other once-popular Web sites. The online blog site Xanga.com , for example, was extremely popular until it was replaced by more feature-packed sites.
Many college students are starting to find the user demographic of MySpace less appealing; multitudes of preteens and teens have begun to dominate the scene. Plus, MySpace lacks applications, pokes and several other boredom busters that are all proudly boasted by Facebook.
“Facebook will absolutely take over MySpace. Everyone I know is on it. It’s also one of the key ways to find out about friends’ parties,” said Andrew DeVito ’09.
While Facebook always offered a place to create photo albums and tag friends, MySpace only recently upgraded the site to include such features. It also added a place to update a status, which Facebook also offered from the start.
Causing students to putting off projects and prolonging sessions at the library, Facebook seems to be the choice social networking site – not MySpace.
It won’t be long before Facebook ups its position on the list of most trafficked sites and takes its rightful place as the most coveted of all tools of procrastination and online communication.
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