Audience Profile: Facebook and MySpace Users

Description of the ideal user on the social network MySpace:

MySpace has traditionally been a place for music and fledgling bands to get discovered by fellow MySpace members. For this reason, I would say the ideal user of MySpace is a 15-25 year old Male/Female who is a member of a band and has set up a profile to increase their band’s exposure. Since profiles for musicians in the website’s MySpace Music section differ from normal profiles in allowing artists to upload songs they can put on their band’s top singles. The band member is probably the load vocalist or lead member and has an outgoing but affable personality.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• If you like any kind of music, you can find it on MySpace.
• You can sell your music and perhaps attract the attention of a record label
• If you get a huge following of fans, you can get put on TV like Tila!

cons

• Being the original social networking juggernaut, MySpace has been the target of many security exploits. MSNBC has reported that “social-networking sites like MySpace are turning out to be hotbeds for spyware.”
• People often disguise their identities on MySpace so its hard to tell if you are friends with someone genuine.
• MySpace has a tarnished reputation when it comes to its creepy stalker control.

Description of the ideal user on the social networking site Facebook:

A site which started as a social network for Ivy League college kids has turned into an international network of 90+ million members. This has opened the flood gates for anyone with an internet connection to join in. However, I feel the core functions of Facebook still benefit the college aged person the best. This being the case, the ideal user of Facebook is a male/female who is attending college and wants to connect with the established community of his or her fellow students online. Facebook then provides the user with the ability to find other people in the classes they are taking and perhaps other people in their dorms.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• With 90 million users and counting, you’re sure to find someone you know.
• Facebook is not going to fizzle out like some dot.com bust in late 90′s, it has dedicated developers and millions of dollars in capital. (I know, I’ve toured their offices)
• Photo tagging feature lets people know what you’ve been up to.

Cons

• Turns everything about your social life into a popularity contest.
• Photo tagging proves to be a risk when people are applying for jobs
• Who knows what Facebook will do with your personal information, their EULA is nearly 7000 words long, chock-full of lengthy legal jargon. I.E. happy segments such as “By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform…”

Like any potentially habit forming activity, online social networking should be used in moderation. I would say if you are spending more than three hours a day on either one of these sites I would consider it an unhealthy habit.

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