25 April 2009

Myspace losers are becoming extinct

Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of millions of Facebookers, Myspace is gradually being snuffed out as a social networking site.

Myspace and Facebook catered to two different crowds. Facebook, with its emphasis on using one's real name and initially opening itself to those with .edu accounts, appealed mainly to the upper-middle class. I stuck with Facebook for the longest time, shunning any contact with Myspace.

Myspace was generally used by those, well, not in that demographic. Parusing through Myspace pages reveals New Jersey douchebags, rednecks, pedophiles, and the infamous Myspace attention whores. It never ceased to amaze me how many people on Myspace could not even spell the city or state in which they resided (e.g., "Fort Brag", and "Tenesee").

When I finally sold out and got a Myspace profile to connect with some people I knew that were Myspacers, I put a little IP tracker in my profile--obviously with the intent of seeing which ladies were checking me out. I was stationed in Soto Cano, Honduras at the time--the US' only base in Latin America. It shouldn't have surprised me that I was getting a lot of hits from "women" who wanted to meet me...from Venezuela. Yeah, Hugo Chavez Venezuela. That's when I stopped using Myspace.

Myspace was also not fully plugged into the Web 2.0 format. Whereas Facebook had, early on, allowed Blackberry users to stay connected to Facebook from their devices, Myspace was slow to adopt this feature.

Its appeal to the upper-middle class and its growing popularity was not lost on the US military, with General Ray Odierno (commander of US forces in Iraq) posting regular updates on his activities in Iraq via Facebook. Yeah, he and I are now Facebook buddies. (Hey, General Odierno, join the NC State network, Mr. Wolfpack Alumnus 1988)

Yes, Facebookers have General Odierno. Myspace users have...Erin Dupree, the Myspace hooker who was involved with the NY Governor last year. Take your pick.

No comments: