MySpace vs. Facebook: Round 1

I was listening to a They Might Be Giants podcast the other day, and at the end they had an advertisement for their Facebook page, then added in that they still have an antique MySpace page up. It would seem to me that in the battle of Social Networking sites, Facebook is clearly emerging as the winner (and no, not because TMBG has thrown their support behind it). I remember 2 or 3 years ago when MySpace was still enjoying the height of its popularity, and endless media buzz. Every TV show, movie, band, and other entertainment giant had to have a MySpace page in addition to their own proprietary webpage. Even individual characters in movies sometimes had their "own" MySpace page. I have noticed this trend to be gradually declining, but I think Myspace will continue to be a social networking/entertainment monolith for some time to come. They may have to settle for being 2nd to Facebook though.

MySpace was not unique at the time...there were other social networking sites that pre-dated it...most memorably Friendster. But MySpace really came into the limelight around 2004/2005 or so (if my memory serves correctly). In my opinion, it wasn't just the ability to share pictures, comments, and blogs with friends that was so engaging, it was also the customizablity. The backgrounds people created for their MySpace pages reminded me of the early days of the web: sites with appallingly bad design and poor asthetic taste. With a few custom tools, MySpacers were putting together pages with outlandish graphics, unreadable fonts, and enough glittery animated GIFs to make even a Hollywood starlet cringe. Yet, the ability to do this, even if you shouldn't, is attractive because it was one of the first, if not the first, widely popularized Web 2.0 site. A site where the user is no longer a passive observer reviewing and absorbing content, but can create, customize, add to, modify, and influence content. Add to that the ability to interact with friends old and new, and you had yourself a socio-technological phenomenon unparalleled arguably since the deregulation of the internet and the mass adaptation of email.

I am saving my arguement of why Facebook is overtaking MySpace as a popular social networking site for another day. But I'll give you a hint. I think it all comes down to design. MySpace pages have become ugly, clumsy, and harsh on the eyes. With the ability to customize every last graphic and piece of text, many users have done just that, with jarring results. Now I am exaggerating a bit...I have plenty of friends who have not "pimped" out their MySpace pages. But I have plenty more, if not twice as more who have. I get it, I understand that much of this is about self representation. If you like sunflowers, you can make a giant sunflower your background. You can have sunflower icons scattered across your page. You can have curvy, flowery text all over the place. It shows something about you. But just like the early days of the web, just because you can do something with a design, doesn't mean you should.

Remember those old, ugly, blocky animated GIFs, menus that changed color when you rolled over them, tracker counters, the yellow construction man signs, textured or patterned backgrounds, and having to use the "~" sign in half of the web addressed you typed in?! BAD DESIGN! Even at the time it was bad design, but it was the norm, its what we were used to in how web pages were presented. We were all just learning how to design pages...and since this was a new and interactive medium, MORE seemed better in most every way. More animated GIFs, more links, more counters, more more more more more ways to interact! That seems to be the mentality that overtook MySpace users. By and large, as the first hugely popular website to let people really customize and control their content...these first time designers sought out more more more. And it all seems good to these users I think....until they see the alternative of more more more...or at least a better way to present it. Webpages feel cleaner now than they did in those earlier days of the web, and are still just as functional. Designers have done "more" with "less". And it is that same idea of more with less that I believe is propelling Facebook ahead of MySpace. But as I said...more on that to come.

I believe MySpace will continue to be a social networking giant for some time to come, even if it ends up taking a backseat to Facebook or another up and coming site we've yet to notice in our peripherial vision. I cannot blame anyone for pimping out their pages with bad design...hell, I look back at some of the pages I did in the late 90s...and they were worse than some of the glitteriest MySpace pages. I think as a whole, these users who have become designers are evoloving, and growing as web contributors. They NEED to go through this cycle of bad and clumsy design. They need to learn from it. They need to see alternatives. They need to stumble over their friends' pages to realize why a giant glittery sunflower is a bad background choice against yellow text. And as the community of Web 2.0 communities grows, evolves, and learn, the newbies who join will have the advantage of being enculturated into better design, and hopefully not repeat the accidents of the past. And when Web 3.0 comes out (whatever the hell that is going to be), we'll probably make horrible design choices there as well, and learn and grow from it.