Contrasting communication styles on MySpace: Ben Daley and Anne-Maree Fewtrell

Myspace Site Comparison From a Communications Perspective

Anne-Maree Fewtrell and Ben Daley are a study in profound contrasts, judging by their respective MySpace pages, http://www.myspace.com/666grimreaper and www.myspace.com/annemareefewtrell. In principle, their fundamental purpose is the same as almost all human social endeavors involving group identity and self-expression: they both seek to communicate with like-minded individuals and to cultivate and maintain friendships and associations with other people. However, the similarity ends there.

Ben's website is designed to promote his personal interests in fighting sports, bodybuilding, motorcycles, tattoos, and his clothing line ("FIGHTA") and book, Thug M.C. His MySpace page features pictures of himself, other fighters, motorcycles, sexually provocative females, satanic-style imagery, and Presa Canario dogs, one of the most vicious, aggressive, and deadly dog breeds in the world.

Anne-Maree's website is designed to promote her personal interest in community service, friendship, education, and personal growth. Her MySpace page features comparatively few photographs and much more substantial text. Whereas Ben Daley's website content focuses on his superficial interests, Anne-Maree's MySpace page is much more expressive and provides more in-depth information about her philosophical views of community service and personal growth.

Audience

Clearly, Ben Daley's intended audience are other like-minded individuals who share his superficial and extremely aggressive interests in fighting, motorcycles, tattoos, and bodybuilding. It seems obvious that his page is also intended to appeal to females who are attracted to males of his "type"; it also seems obvious that his featuring their pictures is also intended to appeal to fellow males in the sense that he hopes to impress them or inspire envy by virtue of his acquaintance with many overtly sexually attractive and provocative females. By contrast, Anne-Maree's intended audience are other individuals who share her values and interests in community development, public welfare, spiritual and philosophical development, education, and general benevolence toward other people. Whereas Ben lists more than 500 friends, Anne-Maree has only one friend listed (in addition to the infamous "MySpace Tom").

Language

The respective websites use language very differently. Ben uses profanity extensively and gratuitously where it is conspicuous and unnecessary. His choice of language and expression are consistent with his aggressiveness and his apparent anger and his explicit apparent capacity for violence and extreme aggression. Meanwhile, Anne-Maree's website text is well written and articulate and its tone and choice of language are both very consistent with her beliefs, values, and her thoughtful and benevolent general perspective about life.

Context

The entire context of Ben Daley's MySpace page is (at least) very consistent: in every conceivable way, it expresses machismo, aggression, and an apparent high degree of need for superficial recognition and attention from others. The context of Anne-Maree Fewtrell's MySpace page is extremely low profile and demure in every respect. Whereas Ben apparently uses his MySpace account for social networking, Anne-Maree apparently does not, in light of the fact that she has not publicized it enough to accumulate many friends.

Conclusion

It would be difficult to imagine finding two MySpace pages that are more dissimilar from one another than those of Ben Daley and Anne-Maree Fewtrell. Ben's page is dedicated to self-promotion and expression of the author's aggression and need for superficial gratification and attention. Anne-Maree's page is not particularly oriented toward her but to her values and her interests in community service and the general benefit of society and other individuals.