Social Networking Websites – Comparison
Social networking websites are basically a large set of customized user profiles which people can post messages to, combined with forums, and photo or video sharing. Some of the most popular social networking websites include MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster. Read on for a comparison of a few of the major websites of this type…
MYSPACE: Perhaps the most well-known of the social networking websites, MySpace has a Yahoo-like home page with featured information and a search engine. Alexa.com ranks it as the sixth most popular website on the internet. It has a slightly longer registration form than Facebook, with nine questions, but it is relatively short compared to the sign-up forms for some free e-mail service websites. Membership includes a free e-mail account, but another confirmed e-mail account is required to sign up. Users must be at least fourteen years of age.
FACEBOOK: The social networking website Facebook has a somewhat more sparse design. It appears to have less advertising and graphics than MySpace, at least in the areas which don’t require membership. The registration form is short, with only five questions. Like MySpace, it requests a valid e-mail address to sign up. Users are required to either be 13-17 years of age and in high school or college, or at least eighteen years old. This excludes those who have dropped out of high school or completed it before the age of eighteen and are not attending college.
FRIENDSTER: Another one of the most popular social networking websites, Friendster has a home page somewhat like that of MySpace, although it has slightly less advertising and loads a bit quicker. It uses a slightly longer registration form than the others, with eleven questions, and has a somewhat higher minimum age of sixteen.
According to a recent news story which appeared on the BBC News website (news.bbc.co.uk), people in different social classes tend to use particular social networking websites. For example, wealthier people and those attending college or university more commonly use Facebook, while more MySpace users start work after high school.
Many other, mostly smaller, social networking websites exist, including some which are targeted to more specific groups of people. Potentially preferable alternatives to social networking websites which offer some of the same benefits to more specific audiences include online group websites (like groups.yahoo.com), more traditional website message boards, and web-based or IRC internet “chat room” services.
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