I have to admit I’ve done a complete 180-degree turnaround on MySpace. Once believing the site – as well as the whole social networking phenomenon – was a fad facing extinction in light of the next Flavor of the Year, I’ve come around to being a big fan.
I’m much more bullish on MySpace than I am Facebook. And here’s why:
- Traffic. No one can deny the masses that click their way to MySpace everyday. Hitwise data from December 2006 puts MySpace at No. 1, ahead of both Yahoo! and Google. They also have two subdomains in the Top 20. The mail domain comes in at No. 5 in traffic and their blog platform is No. 14. Facebook has respectable traffic, but fails to crack the Top 10. Want user data? How ’bout 155 million-plus and growing.
- Brand leader. MySpace has become synonymous with “social networking for the masses.” Facebook, which used to have firm residence in the hip, college-only market position is now trying to out-MySpace MySpace. Ain’t happenin’.
- Media powerhouse. Videos, music, concerts, films, comedy acts, IM and photos help make MySpace an impressive outlet to consume media today and is sure to only get more dominant in the future.
- Rock ‘n’ roll will never die. In light of last night’s Grammy’s, one can’t deny the lock MySpace has as a centerpiece for every band that’s currently putting out music. Allowing users to feel like their one degree away from their favorite rock (and other categories) stars is a good position to be in.
- Mo’ money. MySpace has an ownership with mega-wads of cash. Facebook doesn’t.
- Rupert Murdoch. Don’t underestimate the power of experienced leadership, especially if that experience “gets it.” Murdoch is as smart as they come and knows media as well as anyone in the world. His empire is scary impressive.
- Unique URLs. I can promote my own MySpace page using the following URL: http://www.myspace.com/jcheesman. Promoting my Facebook page isn’t as clear-cut. The growing number of movies and other media properties promoting their MySpace URLs in commercials and other mediums will only make this more important. Do you own myspace.com/YOURBRAND? You should.
- Customizable pages. With varying degrees of Web design know-how, MySpace pages are easily customizable, even to the point where your page can vaguely look like MySpace at all. The Marines’ MySpace page is a good example of this. Facebook doesn’t allow such customization that I’m aware of. The only exception is for sponsors, and those seem to come with limitations and a price tag.
- News Corporation and phat partners. If you take a look at the monster network MySpace belongs to known as News Corporation, it’s big and far-reaching. MySpace is global. And they have Google under contract to the tune of $900 million through 2010 running their search engine and contextual ads. EBay may be next. If things ever got bad at MySpace, falling back on such reserves is comforting.
- Classifieds. MySpace has a platform by which users can post classifieds for free. No, it’s not Craigslist, but it’s a far greater leap than Facebook has made. The social networking leader is also in talks with eBay to deliver an auction platform. As far as jobs are concerned, MySpace users have access to the millions of jobs currently at Simply Hired as well. Will the deal with Jobster – who will have about the same job content as MySpace – make a big difference? We’ll have to wait and see. Interestingly, jobs posted on MySpace fail to make it to the vertical job search engines that I checked. Wonder why? At a minimum they should be on partner site Simply Hired.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Facebook is a fine site. But with up-and-coming hipsters like Bebo and Stickam, it’s going to take a lot for Facebook to get-to and compete on a Google or Yahoo! level. A place MySpace already calls home.
Bonus: For more on MySpace, checkout Steven Rothberg of Collegerecruiter’s video from Onrec, October 2006.
Popularity: 28% [?]
February 12th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I think myspace is better because of it’s creativity, as well. Not too many people harness the real work behind making their page -actually- look good, but those that do, appreciate the ability over facebook.
February 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
While I agree MySpace has a large user base and is deeply entrenched in the music community, I do not run into the “Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.” message from Facebook that many of us MySpacers experience; like today’s for example: http://www.jasongrimes.com/jg/images/blog/MySpace_Error_Page.jpg
February 13th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I can’t deny your reason, Joel… but I will use MySpace more when the pages take less than 20 seconds to load thanks to all the “bling bling” and codes people put all over them :)
From a coder’s standpoint, I am amazed myspace can do what it does, given that it’s really a pretty poor example of elegant web programming.
Results speak a different story, though!
February 13th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I still think that it’s got less of an advantage from a recruiting or professional standpoint. I think the ability to customize profiles with HTML (is that a word?) slows down the site which is a big complaint of commenters here. The classifieds are a nice feature but does anyone not in LA or NYC use it? I’ve checked it a few times to see what was what and there are very few postings. MySpace is great for bands and actors and the arts to get their info out there without having to purchase web hosting packages. But in the recruiting industry, I think Facebook’s the way to go. We’ll see. :)
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
[...]top ten reasons why myspace is better than facebook[...]
March 8th, 2007 at 3:04 am
Myspace offers a lot more, but Facebook still has the advantage. Why?
1. Security. I don’t have to worry about phony profiles asking me to be their friend.
2. No fake bulletins thanks to phishing.
3. Easier to navigate, and not a jumbled mess. Would be nice if you could customize your profile, but the simplicity of Facebook looks fine to me.
4. You have to actually prove you’re the age you are, so no teenagers pretending to be 21.
Again, I like that Myspace offers a bit more, but Facebook seems to actually look out for the user’s interests more.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
myspace is way better simply because people are there. Facebook is all right, but no one is there. The whole unlimited pic thing is cool, but then It’s more of a photo hosting website, and not a social networking site.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I respectfully disagree with facebook being more secure. Facebook has just as many fake profiles, and millions of facebook users are “smart” enough to post their real, full name AND their schooling history, as well as where they currently reside in. If that’s not asking for identity theft, I don’t know what is :P
January 19th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Points 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 9 are actually things that are BAD about Myspace. Points 4 and 7 I just don’t care about. And point 10 is false.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
You’re not giving reasons why myspace is better than facebook. You’re listing ten advantages myspace has over facebook (i.e. Rupert Murdoch, billions of cash assets, etc.) These are two totally different things. Interestingly enough, I still think that facebook will ‘win the day’ in spite of the billions upon billions that is pumped into myspace.
I think that if anyone really objectively uses and assesses both websites as far as ’social networking’ go, it’s impossible to choose myspace over facebook.
The only thing that myspace has over facebook, as far as I’m concerned, is artistic media content. The songs, the videos, the bands, and so on. It also allows for more creativity in the content layout. That’s all well and good if you’re an emo, artsy, high-schooler but if what you want is usability, efficiency and actual social networking, then I don’t see how you can rule out facebook.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I know Facebook doesn’t have all these error things that i know annoy the sh*t out of people and me too, but i log into myspace at the very least once a day and i have been using it for a long time and have a facebook account, yet i still prefer it.
Because, Myspace screams -personality- to me, you can customize your page with colours and i don’t understand why some people are sayin that facebook is better with the privacy issue, you get just as many people making fake profiles etc. and on myspace you can set your profile to private oh the other thing is, you have friend updates on myspace as well! It DOES say when people have updated their profile and when they’ve added new friends! And i find on facebook they give a little too much in friend updates like when you’ve commented a picture, i mean is that really necessary?
Myspace is more original, i mean which came first? There;s just so much more to do.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Why Facebook IS better than MySpace
Social networking sites are all the rage. Why? Because people don’t really like dealing with eachother unless it’s in text and pictures. Two of the biggest social networking sites are Myspace and Facebook, and I’ve had accounts on each because, well, I’m scared of actual human contact. However, I’ve got a definite preference for Facebook over Myspace, and here are some of the common sense reasons why.
1. Facebook is less emo than Myspace.
If I want to read about some teenager’s angst in leetspeak, I’ll read livejournal. I’ll never do that, though, because Facebook isn’t designed around the profile like Myspace is. You can’t put crappy Fallout Boy songs on your page so that they start blaring as soon as it loads, you can’t put videos of AFI regretting their own existence almost as much as I regret their existence, you can’t do anything except maybe put “Catcher in the Rye” as your favorite book. And if you do try to emo-out on Facebook, your friends will rag on you for it on your wall. Which is the way it should be, Myspace.
2. Facebook has no “Top Friends” list, which Myspace has.
Hey, I’ve got enough drama in my life without ranking my friends in order of their importance and watching the fallout when they argue over placement. The alternative is even worse—suppose I take a lot of time to rank my friends and none of them care? How am I supposed to feel about that? Facebook doesn’t try to make me judge people the way Myspace does; I’m free to do that privately.
March 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’m sorry but Myspace is too ghetto. Making something too customizable attracts too many idiots. Pages load slower because of so much unnecessary crap which is why i closed my account. I feel I’m gonna get a seisure everytime i go to one of their sites. If you’re in your teens than use Myspace but if you’re an adult Facebook is where you wanna be. Facebook is more professional and easier to use. And has a much more cleaner interface. …and works with my phone.
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Um, facebook is just ugly – and its layout plagiarizes blogspot.com I am 29 years old. My friends have been using myspace since about 8 years ago. Every one I know has a myspace account. I would like to know when the service which offers lass versatility has won out on a market share of anything? Of course, the chatting realm was a bit of a fad. Now, we’re more about talking to each other at our own leisure rather than meeting up to have live conversations.
My friends are not boring, they like obnoxious things because they have sense of humors. They like to make flashy layouts and make a website which shows a little about how they view themselves. We joke about each other’s layouts when we see each other in real life. If it weren’t for the human tendency to make fun of each other – and ourselves – I wouldn’t have a need for friends at all. If I needed something so boring, I would fall asleep, I would just read a book. If words are what you like, try that. The internet just goes beyond that. It’s always been about pictures and music and funny posts. Don’t you remember AOL? If you’re so grown up, maybe you should just write letters to the people you like – or send a postcard. You spend your whole life growing up and then you die.
Less is more? Only if your getting dressed to go to your 9 to 5. By the time I get around to checking my social network, I’ve forgotten about being an adult. Get over yourself. “grown up” is synonymous with “LAME”!
Oh, and by the way – I’ve seen countless myspace pages which were actually very classy. Just get a friend who knows a little about HTML – and it CAN be done!! This can be much more impressive then a few photo albums and a blog entry. I mean, who DOESN’T want to be entertained? People spend billions on entertainment every year, because it’s FUN!!!
April 17th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Myspace is still much better- dont understand the craze with facebook. Unique pages with html coding, songs u can hear and blogging. Facebook has none of it.
Facebook is better for people who already have friends while myspace is much more encouraging to make new friends.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Boy i bet you’re regretting this article with each passing day… especially after this weekend and the arrival of ‘unique urls’ to facebook… as if it really matters. Now that music has properly arrived on facebook, i can’t see how Myspace can claim higher ground anywhere.. In reality facebook is more about connecting and sharing with people you know whereas Myspace is still very much about self-promotion… with all its attendant Spam, fake profiles, naked advertising pitches (be a fan! be a fan!) and an user base that is mainly American… Facebook is for the moment the more global choice and as such will continue to grow from that perception.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Myspace the innovator not the duplicator unlike facebook, hands down myspace is the winner and will always be on top!
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Obviously, the person who wrote this article in 2007 could not have predicted that Facebook was going to be the leader, however I have to agree with the writer, Myspace is better than Facebook, however, not for any of the reasons he listed. Traffic, brand, unique URLS are all irrelevant when deciding the quality of a website. Facebook is clean, faster, clean written, however it is not easy to find “new” people using Facebook. I am not a fan of their searching capabilities.
Where Myspace crushes Facebook is their ability to search for new users who are not your friends, and not limited to a particular network. The browse feature is hands down superior than Facebook’s. I also like the ability to customize a profile, and the freedom to use html and css is quite powerful, if you know how to use it right. You can even use html to customize your own comments.
I think Myspace can come back, if they were to redesign their website. Instead of competing against Facebook with applications, they should have redesigned their site so that it is faster and cleaner, only allow webmasters to redesign their profile (have a webmaster provide proof that he owns a website by validating an email address that is not an edu, hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc), and provide a clean profile look for those who are not webmasters.
Myspace has the potential to compete against Facebook, but I feel they are going to milk it for awhile, and remain a cash cow, until their user base has fizzled completely.