As a youth speaker, I regularly utilize the social networking tools, Facebook and MySpace as resources for staying connected with teenagers. When I originally started using these tools, I noticed that MySpace was the more popular of the two but it seems like lately that Facebook is taking a more commanding lead in popularity. Although I’m on both sites, here is why I prefer Facebook to MySpace:
- Less Clicks – Facebook seems much more user friendly to me than MySpace does. On Facebook, if you want to write on someone’s wall (equivalent of MySpace’s leaving a comment), it takes one click whereas it takes 3 clicks on MySpace. The same is true if you want to add a friend. You have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops on MySpace that leaves you asking, “Do I really want to be friends with this person that bad?”
- Easier to Find People – A huge challenge with finding people on MySpace is that so many people use some type of screen name instead of their real name. On Facebook, you almost have to use your real name so if I’m trying to find you, it’s a little easier to find “Bob Smith” than “Sweet Sassy Big Daddy.”
- Integration with Other Tools – I like the fact that I can incorporate my Blog and my Twitter feed right into my Facebook page. So every time I update something on Twitter, it changes my status update on Facebook. I like that.
- Standardized – I know a lot of students like the ability to customize their MySpace pages but with most students, the more you customize, the tougher it is to find what I’m looking for on your page. You can still customize some stuff on Facebook but it is not an insane amount of stuff.
What’s your preference between MySpace and Facebook?
