For this assignment I was already way ahead. I have both a Facebook and a Myspace page! I first started off creating a Myspace page years earlier since it was better known to me first. I noticed some stark differences when I got into Facebook though and I found that I enjoyed Facebook much more. First of all, Myspace has some odd information that you can put on your page, some I found a little too awkward to answer, especially about income levels and body type. On Myspace there is just about every question you could hope to ask someone, such as favorite movies, songs, hero’s etc. and it fell into the realm for me of TMI (too much information). I declined to answer all the questions. I just kept it basic, I answered my age (I distorted my birthday for security reasons) my gender, my hometown, my marital status, and that’s about it. I didn’t feel I needed to share anything else because the only people I communicate with on Myspace are people I know “in real life”. Adding the other information just made me feel like I was advertising myself to them or someone else that I was apparently trying to impress. Another part of Myspace that really put me off was being able to put your own background wallpaper and song to your Myspace webpage, along with all kinds of little sparkles and useless bells and whistles. Facebook, on the other hand, I found doesn’t give you the option of putting music to your page, wallpaper, or random moving in-your-face graphics. Facebook keeps it simple because they operate on the premise that you will be networking with known friends (it was initially created to be used among college students only), not advertising yourself to everyone online like on Myspace. Also I got tired of opening people’s Myspace pages and having my computer freeze because they had too much activity going on at once on their page.

Wood and Smith described the concept of our identity (a complex personal and social construct, consisting in part of who we think ourselves to be, how we wish others to perceive us, and how they actually perceive us…pg 52) and self-presentation (how we set forth an image we want others to perceive pg. 52) which is applicable to Myspace and Facebook users. There is an interesting difference between these two sites and how we represent our “Avatar”, “our representation of oneself in a virtual environment”, online (Wood and Smith pg. 60). Since Myspace gives you more options you can develop more fully  your online identity to those you never have met in real life. It gives you more tools to portray “an image you want others to perceive” on the page and express it more flamboyantly to the visitor. You have the ability to put on more of a “show” for all who visit your page. You can get your “fifteen megabytes of fame” (Wood and Smith pg. 53) on Mysapce. I found that this allowance greater self expression makes it more of an effort for me to represent myself. If I have a boring page, some people might think I’m hiding something or am afraid to come out of my shell. If my page is too flamboyant some of my friends would surely poke fun at me and other would think I was self righteous.  

I also noticed that Myspace seems to attract a younger crowd who has become confused, greatly involved or obsessed with self-presentation, as most of us were to some extent when we were younger. Facebook sidesteps a lot of the flamboyance of Myspace. Facebook has less going on with the pages and somewhat forces people to be “real”. For instance, in the setup they discourage using pseudonyms or silly names like “Pimp of the year” for your page title. They encourage you to use your real name. Most of the icons an photos are smaller and there is no disco music available for your page. Facebook draws a pretty straight forward group who really just has an interest in keeping in touch with one another and not so much putting on a show. It emphasizes staying in friend circles and groups that have some relation to each other, like graduating high school classes and other organizations. It also emphasizes networking, which sounds more sophisticated than the random searching that can occur online.  I am able to convince a great deal more of my peers to get on board with Facebook than I could with Myspace. Even people who laughed at me for having a Myspace page did not object to Facebook. I think that most of the Facebook users feel as I did; it’s too much of an effort to keep up our online “face-work” on Myspace  (pun intented and used put a twist on Goffman’s term, pg. 58) and Myspace seemed to showy and juvenile.

Advertisement