Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace: evolution of social networking sites

¶ … Twitter and MySpace. Social networking is one of the hottest trends online, with everyone from teens to baby boomers signing up for them with a passion. Millions of users log on every day to communicate, share information, video, and photos, and keep in touch, all with the click of a mouse. While there are amazing benefits to using these sites for business and pleasure, there are quite a few detriments, too.

A Short History of Social Networking

Social networking seems like a relatively new online phenomenon, but ever since the World Wide Web began, there have been areas where people could meet online, socialize, and share like interests. Geocities and Tripod are only two early examples. However, social networking really took off around the turn of the 21st century, and it has been going strong ever since. One of the first modern social networking sites was created by students from New York University -- Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert, who created Dodgeball.com. It was a mobile service designed to send messages to friends and acquaintances so they could meet at specified locations. For example, if a person was having dinner at a New York restaurant, they could send a message via their cell phone to friends on their list, inviting them to stop by and say "hello." Google acquired Dodgeball in 2005, and shut it down in 2009, replacing it with one of their own applications. Dodgeball was especially popular with young singles, and its founders realized they were on to something. A marketing expert notes, "Enter: Absolut vodka, the first major brand to take notice of Dodgeball, testing the nascent service as a way to reach affluent young hipsters when they're most likely to be enticed to indulge in the marketer's product" (Mathieson 177). Absolut began advertising on Dodgeball's Web site and to its members, a trend that continues with the most popular social networking sites today. Social networking has grown tremendously in popularity in the past decade, as well. Two other writers note, "Lenhart and Madden (2007), senior researchers for the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that in the past five years social networking has 'rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of Internet users'" (Williams, and Merten). Once, most adults stayed away from social networking sites, but today, older users are using sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, not only to find old friends and stay in touch, but also to market their business products and services to a much larger audience.

MySpace, one of the most popular and well-known social networking sites, came online in 2003, Facebook emerged as a college-geared site in 2004, and Twitter emerged in 2006. For a time, MySpace was the most popular site in the world, especially with younger users, but Facebook has eclipsed My Space, especially with older users (Ostrow). However, MySpace remains the most popular, at least in terms of earnings. One writer notes, "MySpace remains the most profitable social network, generating an estimated $1 billion in revenue versus $300 million for Facebook in 2008" (Ostrow). Clearly, social networking is the wave of the future on the Internet, and more advertisers and users are jumping on board every day. That leads to many benefits for users and marketers, too.

The Benefits of Social Networking

As most users can attest, there are numerous benefits to social networking on sites like MySpace and Twitter. It allows people to keep in touch, find old friends, catch up on daily activities, and make new friends. They can also find the latest breaking news, connect with other business owners and professionals, and market their products to a huge audience.

Adolescents were some of the first people to pick up on the social networking craze, and it benefits them in many ways. A study of adolescents using social networking sites indicates it benefits them in a wide variety of way. The authors note, "It is an advantage to understand that adolescents use social networking sites to quasi-publicly experiment with their identity, trying out different roles" (Williams, and Merten). Because so many students use these sites, parents, teachers, and school administrators are finding many uses for social networking both inside and outside of the classroom. Three writers state, "High school teacher Alyssa Trzeszkowski-Giese claims that her profile on Facebook has allowed her to establish deeper relationships with and understandings of her students because she can communicate with them beyond the four walls of the classroom" (Carter, Foulger, and Ewbank). This leads to a better relationship with her students, more information she can communicate to parents, and develops more trust and spontaneity in the classroom. Teachers are also using sites like MySpace to notify their students about upcoming homework and quizzes, and to boost attendance in after school clubs and activities.

Many critics believe that young people spending so much time online at social networking sites is detrimental. They think it keeps them from exercising, and teaches poor communication skills. However, recent studies indicate just the opposite. Social networking actually teaches adolescents some valuable skills. A reporter notes, "But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age" (Goff). The findings of this study also indicate that young people who might have different interests that isolated them from many of their peers, can find like-minded individuals online, so they develop social skills and do not feel left out when they use these sites.

Journalists and businesspeople are also discovering the benefits of social networking. Another writer notes, "Most reporters don't troll MySpace looking for stories, but some have built it into their backgrounding routine, especially when it comes to pieces involving younger people. Sometimes, journalists get tips on pages that might be helpful in connection with a particular story" (Spencer). Reporters have found gang-related information on social networking sites, background information on individuals, and experts predict more journalists will rely on personal pages for background information in the future.

Even churches are using social networking sites to their benefit. Many youth pastors are using Facebook and other sites to help connect with their youthful members, and bring others into the fold. Another writer notes, "Schmoyer said Facebook works as an outreach tool as well, because online friends of the students see updates on what is going on at their friends' church. If an activity sounds interesting to them, then they might visit" (Mehlhaff). There are even specific social networking sites serving churches only, where they can set up their own page and broadcast their message to those that befriend them online.

Social Networking in the Workplace

More and more workplaces are using social networking sites to recruit new workers, too. Another writer states, "The business owner looking for a full-time accountant to serve as CFO, for example, can visit a Website like LinkedIn, scroll through posted resumes, peruse an individual's postings, or even check out a competitor's site for potential candidates" (McCrea 52). In addition, they can view potential candidate's background on sites like MySpace, learning about their character and outlook, and discovering who might, (and might not) be a good fit.

Many workplaces understand the benefit of offering social network access to their employees, and are setting up message boards and personal pages for employee groups to access. They say it builds teamwork and trust in the workplace, and allows employees to communicate more effectively even than through email. It also helps give the company a social networking presence, and many organizations are adding their businesses to sites like MySpace to gain more business and advertise specials, sales, and basic business information. They reach a far larger, worldwide audience, and that can help build brand awareness and ultimately lead to more sales and buzz about their business.

Even the Pentagon is creating a social networking policy for its employees because of the sensitive nature of the information staff members deal with. A Pentagon spokesman said, "The problem now with social networking is that when you Twitter ... information that might be sensitive & #8230; or put it on your Facebook page, thousands of people see it immediately, and then thousands more could see it as it's forwarded on to others,' he said" (Editors). However, the Pentagon is not going to ban social networking, they recognize it has several advantages, including quicker and more effective communication, and building teamwork and a larger sense of the role in the workplace.

A Comparison of MySpace and Twitter

MySpace and Twitter might not seem to have much in common, but both these sites are popular with younger users, although their over-30 demographics are growing. Twitter is being used for marketing and journalism in rising numbers, too. A reporter notes, "On Twitter, CNN, The New York Times, and BBC have the greatest reach among mainstream media companies as of late February" (Ostrow). These news outlets use Twitter to quickly inform their followers about breaking news and other events.

Twitter allows members to "follow" each other, and they only allow short (140 characters) bursts of information called "Tweets." Statistics indicate that Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites, both in the United States and in the world. In fact, 72.5% of Twitter's current members joined in the first five months of 2009. Celebrities Twitter about what they are doing at any given time, even Oprah Twitters. There are more women than men on Twitter, and 21% of its members have never posted a Tweet. Five percent of the users account for 75% of the activity on the site, too (Cheng and Evans).

In comparison, MySpace is not as dominant as it used to be, in fact, Facebook has taken over as the most dominant social network. Twitter does not release member numbers, but MySpace has 76 million members worldwide. While Twitter users tend to spend a minor amount of time online, visitors to MySpace tend to visit on an average of 266 minutes per visit. They believe their visitors spend about 100 minutes more on their site than on other sites. Perhaps the biggest difference between MySpace, Twitter, and most of the other social networking sites, is that most users make their profiles public to anyone, even if they contain private information. A user does not have to be a friend or be accepted as a friend, which is another reason MySpace attracts a different audience that other social sites.