Comparing Social Networking Sites
What Differentiates Between MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube?
May 25, 2009
Recently, one of the hottest social networking sites was even used to summon an ambulance to help someone. So whilst these sites obviously have fun social uses, they have an even deeper implication in our society's means of communication.
These sites, whilst replacing face to face (and ear to ear) communication to some extent, also serve to keep people connected, especially in situations where a phone call or visit is not possible. Therefore, they are useful tools that allow people to keep in touch, no matter where in the world, or who in the world, they are.
MySpace
This social networking site allows members to post a photo and a profile, and then discuss their interests. Friends can send communications with photos and comments.
- There is no limit on character spaces, so one can be as long-winded as one wishes.
- Readers can view a MySpace page of an acquaintance without being members of the site or having to send a message.
- Friends can keep in touch in a fun way with photos and funny comments, so that the pages are fun to read and to follow.
MySpace is something like a blog written by a group of friends, charting the progress, events, and ups and downs of their lives.
Facebook, founded in 2004, is controlled by networks and profile photos that members can click on to find out more about other members. People can be added as friends, and networks expand as far as the member wants to take them. Members can search for old friends and view profiles.
- Facebook offers members more than 52,000 applications, including social games, recruiting others to specific causes, film and music recommendations, and photo sharing.
- Photo sharing on Facebook is particularly popular, with more than 85 million photos shared each month, making Facebook the largest photo sharing site.
- Facebook has a number of “how-to-use” pages that explain the various applications and ways to use them to enhance the experience and make it easier to find confirmed friends and seek people who are neither confirmed nor in a network.
Facebook can be a useful tool and fun experience for those who spend a lot of time on the computer, have a large network of friends and acquaintances, and enjoy downloading photos and using other applications, such as games.
Twitter, famously popular and easy to use, allows members to “tweet” each other. A tweet is an entry less than 140 characters, and it basically answers the question “What are you doing?”
- Twitter is a real time short messaging service.
- Twitter works over multiple networks and devices, including mobile texting, instant messaging, and the Internet.
Twitter makes it simple for friends, relatives, and co-workers to stay in touch. It also can be a useful tool for writers to practice their technique and even create a new work on Twitter, writing an installment with each tweet. With less than 140 characters to work with, writers have to trim out all unnecessary words, as Strunk and White advised, and also as did Truman Capote, when he said: “Write clear and clean, like a country stream.”
YouTube
YouTube is a networking site that allows for the downloading of videos from anyone, high school students to Hollywood celebrities. The videos range from demonstrations on saving water and applying makeup in an airplane to personal, funny clips to music videos to pornography.
- Viewers can watch television shows or specific clips from shows.
- Categories include entertainment, news and politics, sports, people and blogs, how to and style, and music, so there’s a bit of something for everyone, either to post or view, or both.
YouTube is a great resource for those searching for that specific video of Leif Garrett performing that they remember from fifth grade days, and it also is fun for those who enjoy watching a variety of video clips.
All of these networking sites are shared by both celebrities and non-celebrities to keep in contact with the world in this new, electronic, technology-driven age. They are the equivalent of the English Regency-era balls, where everyone dressed up and caught up on the news, or market days, where people working at home all week hitched up the wagon or walked to town and shopped and chatted.
These sites are the modern-day villages, formed by electronic ties rather than face-to-face communication. But they also make it easier for people to stay in touch, and in this society that is so mobile, anything that helps people stay connected is a good thing. Which application is best for someone simply depends on their needs and preferences.
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