Response to Interview

I was originally going to interview somebody else who had a much better story, but wished to remain anonymous. I actually did interview this person, but all her answers turned out vague and pointless no matter how hard I pried, or how many questions I asked. Katrina was resourceful in a way, because I recognize that people are becoming obsessive over social networking sites, and are picking them over more important things. I'm sure they can hurt people in other, more drastic ways, but hearing this did answer a lot of the questions I've been having.

Interview

Katrina Serrano -

Which Social Network(s) do you use? MySpace and Facebook.
How long have you used them? I've used MySpace since 8th grade, and Facebook I started just last year.
Why do you use them? To stay in touch with people I don't see every day.
What do you like about them? Meeting new people and listening to music.
Do you think meeting new people is dangerous? Yeah - but I don't accept people I haven't heard of or don't know.
How have they helped you? They haven't. At all.
How have they hurt you? I get to wrapped up in them and don't do things I'm supposed to be doing, like homework.
How have the social networks changed? They haven't. At all. Other than more users.
What would you like to see change? Not so many old, creepy people using them.
What would you advise others just starting out using MySpace or Facebook? Not to put out any personal information because people can always hack and read your stuff.
Has anything personal happened to you over MySpace or Facebook? I met my best friend over MySpace.
If you were a parent, what would your restrictions be for your child using MySpace or Facebook? I'd make their page provate and not allow them to accept people they don't know. Weird people talk to you all the time. It's best just not to talk back.
Where do you see MySpace and Facebook in the future? It's still going to be there - or a more advanced version is going to be there for teenagers.

Response to post 11

I was surprised to hear that Facebook wasn't bigger in the US. The more and more I listen to people talking about social networks, the more and more I hear about Facebook rather than MySpace. I suppose that means MySpace really is declining. A part of me thinks its good that there might only be one major social network out there where millions are using it, but another part of me feels bad for the founders of MySpace and the people that work with MySpace. What are they going to do, join the enemy, Facebook? That doesn't seem fair. It's good that they want to advertise more, but with Google shutting then out that will be hard to do. I wonder if the ideas MySpace has in store will help, or will they really just disappear all together?

MySpace: A playbook for Beating Facebook

Myspace has been getting a lot of bad press lately. Last year the co-owners told the press that they were predicting to reach 1 billion users, but not only did they not reach that number, they declined from their original number. Facebook, on the other hand, is signing up millions of new users while MySpace is essentially flat. Google's even cutting out some of MySpace's major revenues completely in a couple of months. The co-founders of MySpace are trying to get the public more interested in the network again. In a month or two they're talking about being able to purchase tickets and band merchandise on the MySpace Music site. They're even sending merchandise virtually, like cupcakes you can send to your friends and loved ones. For the past couple of years MySpace has focused on making money, and not about luring more users to their social network. This concludes that worldwide, Facebook is bigger than MySpace, but in the US MySpace is still over Facebook. But for how long?