Myspace Vs. Facebook

By Shea Conner

It’s a routine. When teenagers get home from school or hanging out with their friends, they get on the computer and check their comments on Myspace. Or they check their walls on Facebook. Most teens likely use both Facebook and Myspace, but everyone has a favorite. This story will judge whether teens prefer Facebook or Myspace based on five criteria: Setup and navigation, community, customization, media and annoyance. In the end, one will be crowned the winner.

SETUP AND NAVIGATION

The homepages of both sites are well organized, but navigating through profiles is much easier on one of the sites. Many teens find that Facebook is easier to use because every profile has the same basic design. Myspace, on the other hand, is customized through encoding, and each page looks drastically different.

"On Myspace, it’s like you have to search through someone’s glitter banners and slideshows just to send them a message," 18- year-old Adam Lehigh says. "And then instead of ‘send message,’ it’ll say something stupid like ‘stalk me’ or whatever."

Facebook 1, Myspace 0.

CUSTOMIZATION

Hands down, Myspace is the winner here. People with knowledge of HTML, CSS and any other encoding can make their Myspace profiles look like anything they want. While Myspace may be harder to navigate through, many teens like that they can express themselves through music, slideshows, videos and so on. Facebook has some of these features, but the white pages with blue trim allow for little creativity.

"It’s more fun when you have a site and you can re-do your profile with pictures and music and stuff," 14-year-old Kera Dudley says.

Facebook 1, Myspace 1.

MEDIA

Almost every band and comedian has a Myspace page, but not a Facebook profile. While both feature a spot for videos and photos, Myspace provides a place for users to find musicians and comedians and enjoy their work. Also, Myspace videos are far more watched than Facebook videos.

"Any time you go to a band’s Myspace page, you just click play and see their music video, whereas I’ve never really seen a lot of music or videos on Facebook," 17-year-old Tanner Wood says.

Facebook 1, Myspace 2.

COMMUNITY

The two sites are primarily used for making and keeping track of friends. Myspace had an advantage in this category for years because it had more users. But now Facebook is slowly pulling even. Its mini- feed has helped users keep track of every little thing their friends do, and Facebook’s search bar in the upper left corner can find any friend or group’s page. Myspace also has a feature that updates users on what their friends are doing and a search bar, but many feel that both are inferior.

"On Facebook, I can type in someone’s name in the search bar. On Myspace, I have to hope that my friend’s name is actually his name when I type it in," Adam explains.

Facebook 2, Myspace 2

ANNOYANCE

Both Myspace and Facebook have their flaws. Myspace has been swarming with spammers and profile hackers. Those messages from Shiloh that lead to an adult Webcam site are annoying for the user and hazardous for the computer. However, teens are much more bothered by Facebook’s never-ending applications. When adding an application, many people invite all of their friends to do so as well. These application invites are viewed similarly to junk e-mail because they are frequent and bothersome.

"Facebook is so annoying. It has all those applications and stuff. I don’t like it," 15-year-old Carrie Hillenbrand says. Tanner added that Facebook is more annoying because "you always have friends that are trying to get you to do their ninja application."

Facebook 2, Myspace 3.

The winner is Myspace!

Teens prefer Myspace because it allows for more customization and has better music and video features. While Facebook is easier to use and better for keeping tabs on your friends, it is also annoying because of the applications and boring because it has few customizable features. Although Facebook is growing in popularity, it seems teenagers are still favoring Myspace.

Lifestyles reporter Shea Conner can be reached at sheaconner@npgco.com

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