Are You A Facebook Or A MySpace User?

Because of the way Facebook caught up with MySpace in terms of number of users, I got curious and created an account.  Trying to figure out what was so interesting on Facebook that people started using it.

I can't speak for everybody, but I like the Live Feed where you log in and you see everything your friends have posted and their updates for the day.  It kind of brings your friends closer to you, if only in the online world.  I like the people you may know application that would suggest connections to you to help you grow your network when you're new.  I like the way you can tag friends in photos so that even if I don't know the person who posted the photo as long as my friend is in it - it gets listed in my updates.  I love the fact that you can easily comment on anything and everything!  I love their message threads where it keeps the history of your conversation in one file instead of flooding your inbox with individual messages.  It has kept me coming back, wondering what my friends are up to.  I send birthday greetings through Facebook, keep a social calendar so I don't forget birthdays.  It's pretty addicting.

So does my being female, educated and in my early thirties have something to do with my fondness for Facebook?  Apparently, I fall into the most common Facebook users demographic!

In a study conducted by Netpop Research most Facebook users are female, educated and are in the 18 to 29 age range (I was in this age range not so long ago).  Facebook has a higher proportion of student users than MySpace.  They tend to be single (53% vs 42%).  Most Facebook users connect to an average of 17 people on a one-to-one basis in a typical week and to 82 people on a one-to-many basis.

While both Facebook and MySpace users have games as their primary interest, Facebook users tend to be more interested in Science, Education and Investing while MySpace Users tend to be interested in Pets, Card Games, Animals and Puzzles.  Interesting, huh?

So are you a Facebook or a MySpace user?  Do you fall into the demographics summarized in the study above?

Imagine this, out of 138 Million broadband users in the US, 76% (105 million) contribute to online content.  Among these contributors 29% (40 million) are social networkers.  Wow!

Young, connected - and growing in number (by as much as 96% since 2006) - social networkers are becoming really big influencers today.  Ad companies are beginning to take notice.

Have you tried connecting to others online yet?  Try it, you just might love the experience!