Space or Face?

Now that I have shared information on both MySpace.com and Facebook.com, which is the best?

I personally choose MySpace.com as my favorite out of the two very similar social networks. Perhaps it’s because I started using MySpace before Facebook, but I find Myspace to be a lot more usable and convenient for my own needs. Although these two sites share the same motivation, observing some of their minor differences is what determines which community is best fitting for you. For instance, I find a lot of the hype about Facebook to revolve soley around picture sharing. While MySpace only allows users to upload a limited number of photos in one area, Facebook allows endless image uploads in the form of albums, in which each photo can be titled, described, and tagged to other users. This strong focus on picture sharing is less important to me as someone who uploads very few pictures. Facebook almost enables its users to see what their friends are up to with out ever typing them a message. I find more use in the social connection that I can maintain with a large number of friends through MySpace’s messaging and comment tools. These tools allow me to engage in more conversational communicaiton versus the profile surfing that Facebook often amounts to.

Which community is better fitting for you obviously depends on your personal preferences and what type of role you choose to play in social networking. So, you tell me: Space or Face.

Facebook me?

Facebook.com emerged as an online community strictly for college students, but is now available to anyone with an e-mail address. Facebook is made up of many networks, each based around a compnay, school or region which is identified by user’s email addresses. Therefore, all Texas Tech students are easily identified by others. I enjoy this aspect of Facebook because it makes me feel connected to a sort of community within TTU. Now, let me tell you my favorite way to TAKE ADVANTAGE of this social network.

GROUPS: Facebook.com allows users to create groups, or perhaps smaller niches within the larger community. I find this to be very beneficial in allowing users that share common interests to communicate within their own “neighborhood”. It calls upon your friends to discuss one topic or idea behind the closed doors of your group, which functions similarly to a message board, versus multiple users trying to share similar views across a huge range of different profiles. You can easily send group invitations to your entire friend’s list or only those who you think may be interested. You can also define your group as a public, private, or even secret group.

A growing community

MySpace.com is one of the most popular and fastest growing online communities on the web. Here are some fairly recent, interesting statistics on the community’s users and usage…

http://www.trendcatching.com/2006/05/myspace_usage_s.html

Introducing MySpace.com

http://www.myspace.com/Modules/Common/Pages/AboutUs.aspx

MySpace.com states, “MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends’ friends.”

I find MySpace’s bulletin tool to be very beneficial in keeping your “friends” connected to everything you do. You can inform all of your friends at once of any personal news or ideas you may have by posting bulletins. Bulletins are quick and easy, and are automatically posted on ALL of your friend’s home page (the first page every user sees after logging in). I also like how you can display your “top friends” within your profile. This allows others within the community to see who you communicate with the most, and is a good way for meeting a friend of a friend, which ultimately expands the community.

“Taking Advantage of Social Networking”

What to expect: I plan to provide you all with my analysis of two different social networking sites each week. I will point out what makes certain sites operate as communities. I will also expose some of the less obvious ways that users can create a tighter knit community by taking full advantage of some of the tools each network offers. After analyzing two different sites, with my comparative analysis and you’re feedback, you and I will decide which site is more valuable in terms of opperating as a usable community.

My first post!

Looking forward to starting my blog. My theme is to be titled, “Taking Advantage of Social Networking.” I’ll tell you all more about it in my next post.