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I've been wanting to write my opinion about the three for awhile now and the impact these social networking sites have on people and in todays life. I'll start by explaining my experience with them the best I can.
When I was younger... can't remember the exact age... but I started a Myspace profile as soon as Myspace got popular. I was 19 or 20 at the time out of high school I think. Myspace was great. Your own profile, customizable, and a great way to stay in contact with friends and family. Networking was amazing. Was also a great way to meet locals via the Internet as well without having to go on the prowl so to speak. I was a loyal fan for years and it has been a great experience. I've met many people whom are now best friends, stayed in contact with long lost friends from my youth, and also fellow classmates and family members that live across country / seas.
One thing I realized once graduating high school is how different life becomes. No longer is everyone locally that is in your age bracket at school on a daily basis and in one spot. The social networking becomes cut off in many ways. How else do you stay in contact with everyone you know? Meet new people? Yeah there is the phone or email like everyone has relied on in the past.. and even more in the past via postal mail. Realistically with the everyday business of daily life that can be an almost impossible task... and how else are you to meet someone new? Stay in contact with old friends? Family members? Well from my point of view the options are limited. You either:
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Those friends / family really close you stay in contact via phone, text messages, or by snail mail.
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Meeting new people. Either you meet a new friend or other via word of mouth, at a bar, at church, or a workplace. There is of course the random meeting of someone at like say.. shopping. Still in busy day life... that too can be a daunting task.
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Online... via Myspace, Facebook, Plenty of Fish, Twitter, Match.Com... or other social networking sites.
So like I said before.. I am a big Myspace fan. I've stayed in touch with many friends and people where otherwise might of and realistically been an impossible task. Hell... I've even met my son's mother off of Myspace.
Now we come to Facebook. Facebook is the big rival to Myspace. Another social networking site that was made by a college student that just exploded with popularity. Facebook is different in how it works and I think it's important to note the differences between the two.
I didn't get into the Facebook thing until probably a good year or so ago. As a Myspace fan I was kind of bias of using another networking site. I mean... one was enough right? Now I realize I was wrong.
Myspace you can create your own profile, totally customize your profile, the html, music, photos, everything. In fact... it's so customizable that some peoples pages... and I'm not trying to be sexist here... that a lot of girls / womens profiles are so packed with photos, add-ons, music, etc, etc.. it borderline crashes your browser to view their page or could give you a seizure. This.. in my opinion is probably the biggest downside I have with Myspace. It got ridiculous and annoying fast. Was no really set standard anymore.
So I signed up for Facebook. More out of curiosity then anything but I also realized / found out I had many friends who only used Facebook.. and not Myspace. The same was visa versa! Also some used both. Biggest example I can give is all my family used Facebook and never Myspace so I missed out on being able to communicate them more efficiently for quite awhile. At first.. Facebook was foreign and different. Almost a little confusing which is hard for me to admit being a computer geek to begin with. I wasn't convinced how cool Facebook was until a couple months into it and as I found my friends. Now I find Facebook to be the best out of all three. More grown up. Easier to use. Easier on the eye. Easier on... well everything. Proof of this is how recently Myspace has tried to emulate many Facebook features........ I mean.. copying is the biggest form of flattery is it not? What I like about Facebook is its simplistic way of use. Nobody has crazy profiles of pink.. music..flashing backgrounds.. hundreds of photos and profile pages 50 scowls long, retarded profile schemes, etc, etc. That got REALLY got annoying on Myspace personally and fast.
So now I use Facebook on a daily basis.. and use Myspace... maybe once.. or twice every other week at most. I've had many friends delete their Myspace account and use Facebook as the only social networking site. I'd do the same, but many of us... I have some friends who only use Myspace... or only use Facebook so I'm stuck with keeping both. Doh! Each serve their purpose I suppose to be fair.
My opinion strongly is Facebook is the best one available now, the most grown up one, the most simple effective one, and the one I use on a daily basis. Both are competitive though. Each have millions and millions of users... and each has cell phone applications to support both. Twitter does too I should mention. Yet.. for the purpose of this article.. my personal favorite now and most practice one in my opinion is Facebook. I should note though that the college student who created Myspace and his buddies are multi-millionaires. Facebook... the college student who created that.. whom is one year younger then me I believe at 25 now.. is worth 1.5 billion dollars. NUTS!!! :)
Now.. on to Twitter. For those you don't know. Twitter is a social networking site like the Facebook and Myspace but with a big difference. You can only type a certain amount of characters and post them as updates. Think of it as... well.. an update.. pager style. You don't really have a profile like Myspace or Facebook... but you can update it with your status and what you are doing... in the amount of characters specified. I'm actually surprised how big it has got. It's a big hit now with celebrities and politicians. I personally don't use it as I fail to see the point. Myspace / Facebook is more the enough in my opinion. I don't need to know what everyone is doing at all times during the day, yet... despite my own opinion of it.. is very popular. To each is own. I heard the just went went public with stock and millions of dollars from investors poured into the Twitter application.So.. my question to my fellow Viners is... do you use Myspace / Facebook / or Twitter, and what is your opinion of them?
Note I do have fellow Viners as friends on my Myspace and Facebook. Even Newsvine themselves has a Newsvine "fan" page on Facebook I'm a member of. However you look at it or opinon of either of them... they are connecting people in a way that has never happened in the history of mankind. For better or for worse... these sites and technologies are here to stay. Whether they are for the best... or the worse.. only time can tell.
Thanks for your time and reading my article. Remember to adhere to the COH. :)
