Full disclosure: I work at MySpace as a consultant on the MDP (MySpace Developer Platform) team.

I now use both social networks on a daily basis. And these are my observations:

• Bulletins on myspace are funnier than posted items on Facebook. On MySpace, the bulletins tend to be funny, irreverant videos and images. On facebook, the posted items tend to be less funny images and reposts of New York Times repetititive and whiny op-ed columns. If I want the news, I’ll *read* the news.
• MySpace has less of your coworkers and so users feel more at ease to be themselves. Case in point: I have friend profiles on myspace that are public, but private on facebook.
• It’s still about the music. iLike is arguably Facebook’s de-facto music application. It’s a great app but it still doesn’t compare to the complete integration of music that MySpace has achieved. Being a musician and music-lover, this is what I care most about. I can listen to *full* songs, add them to playlists, listen to my friends playlists. It’s now a full-on personal and social radio station with whatever music I want. On facebook not everyone has the iLike app installed and I don’t always see the music notifications in my news feed. On MySpace, music is a first-class citizen. On Facebook, it’s a second-class citizen. Until this changes, MySpace will continue to be the social-network of choice for bands and music fans.
• The chicks are cuter on myspace. It’s just true.

I think that these observations are largely dependent on the demographic of friends you have on each social network. On MySpace, I definitely have more artsy, musically-inclined friends. The profile customization and freedom on MySpace attracts these freer individuals. On Facebook, I have a more heterogenous set that includes friends, family, coworkers, school friends, etc.

The end result is that I end up going to Facebook to learn and see what my friends are doing. But I go to MySpace to get a laugh, listen to some tunes and have a good time. Each network has it’s place and we should accept that they can live in harmony, serving a different need in the ecosystem of internet social interactions.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.