----------------------------->Take the poll on the right and let me know what you think.
Alright, so now to the important stuff.
Facebook or Myspace? It seems like everyday i'm reading a story about Facebook in the news. I rarely ever hear anyone mention Myspace and if they do, it's because they are in a band. I thought this was a good sign of the times. How quickly fads come and go.
There was literally no way of tracking down your lost schoolmates back in the day (and by back in the day, I mean after 2000), except by going to classmates.com or some other super horrible site that made you pay in order to get in touch with people you once knew. Now....it's literally as easy as filling out your profile and 50 people find you.
So we know the reasons why social networking sites are such a big deal. It's instant access to a billion people. It's awesome to catch up with old friends and stay in touch with current friends. It can be used to organized events and get the word out about great causes. But why has Facebook taken over?? What happened to Myspace??
Here's what I think:
1) Myspace Profiles vs. Facebook Profiles: I do not want to stare at my friends glitter graphics and/or scrolling marques letting me know the countdown until their 25th birthday. If I have to page through 60 miles of garbage in order to see what your up too, then forget it, there's a reason why I haven't stayed in touch for the last 10 years. Facebook profiles are pretty streamlined, even boring a little. But they are organized, and organization is key.
2) Spam and/or Account Hijacks: I know people who had their accounts hijacked on Myspace....I won't name names and although I think it was pretty rejected if you were duped into it, it's still a problem. We use these tools to communicate with friends and family. We don't want this information shared or seen without our permission. So far, Facebook hasn't had any problems.
3) Instant Messaging: Myspace made us download their instant messaging program for us to run (in addition to our AIM, MSN, Yahoo IM). It was impractical and I never used it. Facebooks IM is included on the webpage. It doesn't have any fancy bells or whistles, but it's practical. Within two seconds of logging in, I can have an instant conversation with my friend Sue over in the UK.
4) Applications: -1 for Facebook Applications. They should do a better job regulating which ones can and can't be available. Some of them are just plan ridiculous (what sex and the city character are you most like?), but some are fun and practical (bowling buddies is really fun and passing drinks to friends is also nice for those who are far away). Myspace didn't have applications really....just random junk you had to HTML paste into your profile. I like the apps, just wish they were regulated.
5) Welcome to 2009: Myspace is great for bands, it truly is. It's a personal website that you don't have to pay for and can list everything from an entire album, your tour dates to biography's and pictures. It's pretty rad and I think bands should still use it. Facebook though, is entering an era when INSTANT communication is key. We no longer wait for information. We have cellphones, text messaging, instant messaging, email, myspace, twitter, facebook, chatrooms, blogs, etc. It's overwhelming, but it's the wave of the future and I think Facebook has got it on point.
SO LONG MYSPACE.
----------------------------->Take the poll on the right and let me know what you think. I'll discuss it on the show Friday.
One Love,
Jamie
