Greetings my fellow Bloggers! My name is Julia Dorcé and I am a junior in the School of Industrial & Labor Relations. I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but raised in the Big Apple. Well, if you consider Queens Village, NY the “Big Apple” then sure. Although my major is Industrial & Labor Relations, my career aspirations reside more in the realm of journalism. See, initially when I entered the ILR School I was under the crazy notion that I wanted to be a corporate lawyer. However, when I really sat down and thought about it, I discovered that my true passion was writing. I had always been active in numerous publications in high school, and since coming to Cornell that has not changed much either. Thus, I aspire to be the Editor-in-Chief of a magazine under Hearst Publications, particularly Cosmopolitan. Yea, I know what you may be thinking “Isn’t that the magazine that is all about sex position and how to achieve the perfect orgasm”? And yes, a small portion of the magazine is devoted to sex and love, but that is not the whole focus of the content within its 200+ glossy pages. Aside from journalism I am interested in communications and fashion. Reflecting on my experience with blog sites such as this one, I am reminded of my early high school days when the use of “Xanga” was as popular as today’s “Blogger” and “Live Journal”. For me, the appeal wasn’t in the ability to have an online account, or diary if you will, of my life. I enjoyed the design aspect of it. I recall spending countless hours looking up layout codes, constructing my own, or finding ways to make my “Xanga” page truly stand out.
In thinking about an Internet-related phenomenon that I am interested in, my thoughts focus in on the overwhelming popularity of Facebook versus the equally identical downplay of Myspace. I remember the days before I received my coveted NetID, when Myspace was all the crazy. However, looking at what Myspace has become, with additions of “extras” such as a blog, photo album, and calendar, it is not the Myspace that I remember at all. Then, when Facebook became my new online addiction, I felt a sense of comfort in knowing that I had become a part of the elite “college crowd” who could frequent the site at their leisure. This was before the days of the “Mini-feed and third-party applications such as the Super Wall, Big Photo, and the now “public” domain”. When I think about both where both Myspace and Facebook have come in the last few years, I can’t seem to understand why the tide has shifted more toward the use of Facebook. In lieu of all of the development that each platform has undergone, it is hard to really make a clear comparison between the two entities. Thus I ask, what is it about Facebook that makes it so addicting more so than Myspace?
The online space that Facebook occupies is a medley of the World Wide Web, email, and asynchronous discussion forum. In thinking about how the site is organized by networks, which can include either geographic regions or college affiliation, I am reminded of the cataloging system characteristic of the World Wide Web. With respect to the sending and receiving of messages between parties, the concept of email readily comes to mind. Finally, in looking at the function of the “Wall”, I think about an asynchronous discussion forum. People can post comments on their own “Wall”, reply to something on someone else’s “Wall”, and their “Friends” can view what either party said. It is complex to say the least because with all of the mainframe changes that Facebook has undergone in the past few years, I am sure that the online space it occupies will only grow to be more extensive.
3 comments:
I would say that at this point the main differences between Myspace and Facebook are that in Myspace you can design your background and have music playing when people visit your page (hence why my 1999 computer at home often freezes while visiting these pages). Also, in Myspace many artists and musicians have their pages where they put out tour dates, and where you can stream audio.
Having said that, the reason many college students shy away from Myspace is that although Facebook is becoming very similar to Myspace(and I know many people who have deactivated their accounts for this reason), when I think of a Myspace account, the words "internet predators" and "middle school kids" come to mind. I think this is mainly because there have been many stories in the media about Myspace meetings gone wrong (like today's story in class) whereas I haven't heard as many negative Facebook stories in the news.
Although Facebook started as college only, it remains as a way to communicate with mostly friends, even with the new features and expanded population. Since people generally block non-friend users more on Facebook than on Myspace, this has contributed to the difference in perception between Myspace and Facebook.
Well, that's my take on it. Many people don't like the changes that Facebook has undergone to get as many users as they can and view it as "selling out." I say, there is no shame in expanding the site and including more people.
Julia,
I think you bring up an interesting topic in attempting to distinguish between MySpace and Facebook, but the way I see it, they are two completely different types of social networks culturally. Talia certainly touched on this when she pointed out the various negative connotations associated with MySpace, and the more reserved networking used on Facebook. I think MySpace is more about meeting people. It wouldn’t be unusual at all to receive a buddy request from someone you’ve never met before. That person may live halfway around the world, be of any age, creed, or color…yet it probably wouldn’t be all that surprising if they found you, added you, perhaps wanted to chat? This sort of thing is almost unheard of on Facebook. Any friend request outside of your family, friends, or College network would be highly unusual. There are mutually understood standards governing poking, friending, and messaging – often this includes having met the person, or attended a class with them at the very least. I think people gravitate towards their preferred social network based on these standards, and what they are looking for. The difference may not be obvious structurally, but you have to look at the cultural and social sides of things too.
I hate to overlook one other thing: although I agree that they can be annoying, Facebook has done something truly remarkable in opening up its platform to third party applications. This means any user with the coding skill can create an application if they so choose. This is what really makes Facebook more unique: if you have an idea for Facebook, you can make it happen. What a great way of not only surrendering some corporate control and really making it about the users, but also fostering innovation, and sparking interest in web and programming development.
I am also interested in the whole Facebook/ MySpace phenomena or "obsession". Like Kayla, I think that MySpace is more susceptible to people wanting to meet over the internet or "chat" and that they people involved could live on the opposite side of the world. This would be completely normal and typical MySpace etiquette. However, with Facebook people who will poke, or add you as a “Friend” are people you know (or at least have seen around – usually campus) and it would seem weird if someone who you do not know or have never seen (even more so if you two have ZERO “Friends” in common with).
I guess you could say that Facebook is like an address book for friends and a way to keep a tab which I guess is why people like the whole idea of Facebook more so than MySpace because it is like an address book. It is also a very convenient way for people to network and keep in contact with old friends and new ones. Actually, I have heard that it isn’t uncommon for companies to even use Facebook as a source to look for potential employees. So, be careful what you put on your page, you never know who may come across it.
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