Facebook vs MySpace and other social networking sites

So I got curious about Facebook; you can click on my new Facebook badge in the lefthand navigation bar, if you're curious as well. Couldn't help myself; I've always been interested in social networking communities. I've done Orkut, LinkedIn, and a MySpace page among others. I'll save blogging communities like Livejournal for another post.



Orkut - Interesting, but didn't seem to go anywhere, at least for me. Apparently it's huge in Brazil right now.



LinkedIn - I signed up but found that (again, at least for me), it didn't provide any benefit. I found it time-consuming to have to evaluate each relationship and referral request; I started getting 6-7 a week. At first I took the time to e-mail back, asking for clarification about how I knew the person. It always felt awkward to me to decline a request, and it made me wonder how many people DID approve requests even though they had no idea who the person was. What pushed me over the edge: When someone I didn't know passed a referral request through five people to get to me ("Can you help me get an agent?", a question I already get asked at least once a week). I said "no" to the request but then the person who made the original request had the gall to request that I add her into my network now that we had interacted(!). I ended up requesting that my account be deleted.



MySpace - I signed up out of curiosity, created accounts for myself as well as my music group. I began checking my pages less and less often. Browsing user pages was painful because of many user-designed pages which made it nearly impossible to actually read the content. Also, the "I have more friends than you" mentality encouraged total strangers, particularly bands, to get themselves added to people's Friends lists. I was discerning at first, but then began finding the whole "friend approval process" time-consuming and sometimes irritating because of the number of complete strangers that would ask to be added to my Friends list. It seems good for indie bands, though. Setting up Urban Tapestry's MySpace page was fairly straightforward, and gives us a free venue to posting soundclips. I still have no idea if it has helped us find new listeners, however.



And that brings me to Facebook. Yet another social networking site, Facebook was originally developed for college and university students. Now, however, users can opt to join a non-school network, such as a place of employment or geographic region (like Toronto!); all you need is an e-mail address.

(Update: Missquirt on LJ points out that until recently, Facebook was ONLY available to university/college students. "Until a few months ago, an official school email address was required for signing up, and 'accepted' schools were added gradually. I remember when McMaster 'got facebook' in my fourth year.")

According to this Wikipedia entry, Facebook is ahead of Flickr in terms of the number of photos uploaded daily, and is the sixth most visited site in the United States. The name comes from the college publication distributed at the beginning of the academic year by universities to help students get to know each other better.

So far, I'm finding Facebook a much more satisfying experience than MySpace. It has a much better user interface, with a cleaner design with fewer ads, and easier navigation. Before trying out MySpace, I might have whined about how all the user pages look the same but y'know, there's something to be said for READABILITY.

Like many other social networking sites, Facebook has the friend request feature. Instead of listing the total friend count, Facebook lists totals for each of your networks. Because the number of friends isn't pushed as an obvious goal in Facebook nearly as much as it is in MySpace, however, I'm hoping that this will cut down on the needy "gotta pump up my Friends count no matter what" types. I like the fact that you can specify HOW you met people. For those I've met online, I usually choose "Randomly" and then type something like "through the blogging community" etc.



Facebook has much better search facilities than MySpace.

I'm experimenting with having my Facebook page automatically import blog entries. When I post this Blathering, for example, Facebook should automatically update my Notes to include the post. I might nix this, though, because I can't edit the posts once they're imported.

I love the tagging feature. If you post notes or photos, for example, you can "tag" them with the names of people you mention. If these friends are already on Facebook, then you can just select from a pull-down menu. Those Facebook friends are notified and, with just one mouse click, can see what you've posted about them.

So far, I've gotten back in touch with some old neighbours and classmates, and even found a few filkers. :-) Checking out the user-created groups, I notice there also seems to be a huge number of aspiring authors on Facebook, so I figure it will be a fun place to promote Inkygirl and Will Write For Chocolate.

Facebook is one of the best social networking sites out there right now, in my opinion, and it's encouraging to see that it continues to improve its offerings to users. For it to become THE social networking site in such a crowded arena, however, it's going to need features that will distinguish itself even more from its competitors.



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