Social networking is a cultural phenomenon that exlpoded into life at the turn of the millenium, and Myspace was at the cusp of this insurgence.
Myspace
Myspace offers people a free online space to add their own music, pictures and videos and also customise the colours and layout. Aside from purchasing your own domain name, it originally was the simplest way to create your very own area on the web. What's more, your friends can all be there too, along with all the bands you've heard of, and all the ones you haven't. However, now Myspace appears slow and is extremely sluggish when loading any form of media, and as a result many people jumped ship when the new sites began to gather some kudos amongst bloggers. 2006 saw Myspace overtake for the first time by Bebo, and it seemed only those who were truly loyal to Myspace continued to use it regularly. But what are the pros of Bebo when compared to Myspace?
Bebo
Bebo on first appearance appears to be far more straightforward to create than Myspace. Rather than using source code to alter the details such as layout and colour, Bebo has a huge database of pre-defined 'Skins' that can simply applied to give your page a distinct look. And, if you wish to make a completely unique skin, there is an option to design your own based on a design of your choice.
As of January 2008, according to Marketing Charts.com, Bebo had 22.4 million unique visitors worldwide, and while still behind Myspace in the USA, it had made huge advances in European territories,particlarly in the UK.
But Bebo does also have it's drawbacks, partiuclarly the annoying 'Applications', which involve quizzes and questions that are constantly circulating among your friend list, meaning you can be asked to take in the same quiz over and over again, and you are constantly reminded of the fact that you have yet to complete it. Also, while pornography is strictly banned on Bebo, it appears that the only video site that is compatible is Youtube, for embedding links.
Marketing Charts.com also informs us that Facebook has seen a 366% increase in users in the UK, amounting to 11.6 million. It isn't dissimilar to Bebo in many ways - there is still the 'Applications' that continually pop up on your homepage which can be increasingly frustrating. Facebook has become incresingly popular with students looking to keep in contact, but it has led to the question of security, as there have been reports to students being expelled due to thei information contained on their Facebook pages.
Social networking will continue as will the advertising revenues for major corporations that goes along with it. Each site is to the individuals taste - none of the three are consistently better than each other.
