Is MySpace Becoming Facebook?
MySpace and Facebook Head to Head in a Social Networking Arms Race
Feb 9, 2009
MySpace and Facebook both attract 100 million visitors a month but according to comScore data, as of April 2008, Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the world's largest social networking website.
The MySpace Rule
MySpace went online in 2003 and soon overtook Friendster, which had been launched the year before, as the number one social networking site in the world. As well as finding old friends and making new ones, MySpace users could redesign their personal profiles, add songs and videos, and post blogs. MySpace also proved a popular marketing tool for musicians, allowing bands and artists to connect with new and existing fans.
Competitors such as Bebo, which initially had its own identity as a web-based address book, began to reinvent themselves as pale imitations of MySpace. Top friends, profile comments, music and various degrees of profile customisation became common features on other social networking sites.
The Facebook Challenge: Overtaking MySpace
Facebook began as a US college networking website and became open to the public in 2006. In the face of all the MySpace replications, Facebook offered the strongest alternative.
Unlike MySpace, where profiles are automatically public, Facebook profiles could only be viewed by the user’s friends and those in his or her chosen school, work or location-based networks. While Facebook’s customisability was limited, this eliminated the problems caused by MySpace users with no understanding of HTML or CSS creating poorly designed, high-bandwidth profiles.
Facebook was the fastest growing social networking site from June 2007 to June 2008 with 153% growth, compared with MySpace’s 3% growth in the same period.
MySpace becomes Facebook
MySpace responded to the threat by adopting many of Facebook’s key features:
- Allowing users to respond to profile comments directly, instead of first clicking on the person’s profile.
- Replacing the “extended network” with statuses that users can update.
- Friend Subscriptions (similar to Facebook’s News Feed).
- People You May Know, based on mutual friends (Facebook's equivalent is based on common networks and locations).
- The ability to tag friends in uploaded photos.
- MySpace Apps, which like Facebook applications, allow for the addition of various programs by third-party developers.
This shift in the social networking war is ironic for two reasons. Firstly, the creators of MySpace took on Friendster’s best features when setting up their website. Secondly, other social networks spent years scrambling to be like MySpace and now it is MySpace chasing Facebook.
Of course, if MySpace did not make concerted efforts to improve its layout and functionality and keep up with the times, they would be in danger of falling away like Friendster.
So has MySpace become nothing but an imitation Facebook?
The Marketing Example: Musicians on MySpace
It has to be said that the borrowing goes both ways. Facebook Pages are clearly an effort to tap into MySpace’s success with musicians, comedians, filmmakers, politicians and celebrities, and as a general marketing tool. Musician Johnny Lima told Suite101 he prefers MySpace for this function.
"MySpace is the greatest thing that ever happened to the independent musician," he said.
"Now with a click of a mouse, we can reach thousands and thousands of people when just a few years ago they were unreachable.
"I wouldn't have the fanbase I have without MySpace."
Lima also uses Facebook but explained: "I don't think people come to Facebook to find new music."
So MySpace is still king when it comes to marketing but what's the best option for simply connecting with people? With MySpace and Facebook becoming more and more alike, it depends on where your friends are. Statistics show that is probably Facebook, for now.
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