Brightsy has 98537845 friends

Kidding!

That would make me the most popular girl in town right? Perhaps not...

A 'friend' nowadays is not the same as it was in the good old days (bring back the '90s, i say!) Now, due to online social networks such as Myspace and Facebook, a 'friend' could be someone you work with, play sport with, went to Primary School with, or... someone you have never met.

"Tell me more!" I hear you cry.

Although Myspace was not the first social networking site (Friendster and Bebo came before it,) it was the first to become such a defined cultural phenomenon not only online, but also irl ("in real life," for the uninitiated.) Myspace is a brand; a "place for friends." It is, however, aligned more with youth and its associated cultures, such as consumerism and music (Fine, 2007).

For me, it started the summer before last. I made that jump into cyberspace with Myspace. I had, until that point, refused to become one of those people who collects 'friends' like one might consume popcorn ("must.have.all.that.i.see"), ranks them, and then post photos of them and myself drinking, dancing, and posing. Then, that Christmas I was given a camera and suddenly I started to like the idea of sharing photos and stories of nights out with my friends. I could send comments to my friends. I could look up people I used to go to school with, who I hadn't seen since I was nine. I could check if that friend of a friend from that party was single. I could include Michael J Fox as one of my top four friends. What's not to love?

However, if you looked at brighty4prez's space and saw the relative lack of activity, you might have noticed that Myspace is perhaps, no longer where its at. It's not that I suddenly became really unpopular (I swear!), it's that most of the people I used to contact through Myspace have moved on. To Facebook.

Facebook is a much more open and somewhat less cliquey social networking site. Although it started as a US College-students-only site, now, anyone can join (Fine, 2007). Aesthetically, Facebook profiles are much more uniform than those on Myspace, where text is often illegible and pages load slowly due to an overload of amateur and messy video and slideshow uploads. Facebook also uses real names, rather than nicknames, and has extra layers of security as a standard to protect identities.

Such differences have resulted in Facebook gaining a broader audience, and increasing popularity. Where Myspace has a cool, youthful, more superficial vibe, Facebook is used by those young and old, for social and business networking (Fine, 2007) …. hell, my mother has a Facebook (or as she called it at first “that Face…tube thing.”)

This graph shows globally, what I have experienced myself locally. It shows the two sites "daily reach" over the past 6 months. That is, the percentage of all internet users each day who are visiting the two sites. It shows how Myspace's popularity has peaked at about 7%, but that Facebook has recently caught up and is still increasing.

These global trends can be recognised as they're occurring, as so many of us are actually part of the trends ourselves.

And now, excuse me, I must officially go and update my mood.

Reference:

Fine, J. 2007. O.K. (SIGH), I'LL JOIN FACEBOOK; But its mashup of friends and business is a bit unnerving. Business Week. (4050): 24. (accessed May 5, 2008, from Proquest database).