Social Networking: Facebook versus MySpace

MySpace and Facebook are two of the biggest social networking systems on the net. Personally, I prefer the latter of the two. I think the appeal is widespread for most internet users. It's obviously a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. Beyond that, they are user-friendly and a healthy way to express your creativity. There are, however, a few drawbacks to these programs.

There are definitely elements of both networks that are better than the other. Facebook is the most familiar to me since I use it everyday. The privacy settings are superb and the user-customization features make the program individual to your own personality. I liked how Facebook was originally open only to college students and alumni. That was what set it apart from MySpace. It was like the club everyone wanted to be a part of. It felt exclusive. Now, any idiot can join. "Facebook is becoming a bunch of bullshit. I liked it when it was just for us college elitist snobs. Now the pothead losers who dropped out of high school or the jocks working at Mcdonalds want in and are ruining it," one Digg user commented.

In contrast, MySpace is almost distracting with the wide variety of options available to the user. There are far too many options for design. "MySpace would be so much better without the huge glitter text, tacky backgrounds and horrible music. Basically, they need to destroy the current infrastructure and start fresh; the current one can't be saved," another Digg user added. In terms of actually keeping in touch with friends, MySpace falls short. It should instead be used for musicians who want to promote their music, which was its original purpose to begin with.

The problem is not that the sites are missing anything at all, the problem is that they are overloaded with applications. "It is the choice and variety of applications and the information being pushed at us that makes it overwhelming. The next phase should be cleaning up and making things easy to use. Most importantly, Facebook needs to make it easier to communicate, which could be as simple as making the Wall more prominent," Alex Iskold writes. My biggest frustration with using Facebook has been the news feed application. It's distracting and invading. Bottom line, Facebook should not bombard you with other people's pictures, videos, and applications they've added. It's not the clean, simple and focused Facebook I originally joined.

How could these sites be made better? Facebook has taken a giant leap toward the answer. "Facebook’s strategy is almost the polar opposite from MySpace. While MySpace frets over third party widgets, alternatively shutting them down or acquiring them, Facebook is now opening up its core functions to all outside developers," Tech Crunch's Michael Arrington. I don't know that promotional advertising for these sites is the answer. That only opens up a whole new set of frustrations. I think both sites should go back to their original platforms and intended purposes. Because in 10 years, where will these sites be? Time will only tell..