Welcome!

Open Source Authors: Bill McColl, Si Chen, Jeremy Geelan, Liz McMillan, Craig Thompson

Related Topics: Web 2.0

Web 2.0: Article

Facebook Has Completely Replaced MySpace

The Fickle Nature of Social Networking
By Dylan Schiemann
Article Rating:
August 16, 2007 12:30 PM EDT
Reads:
 15,240
Dylan Schiemann's Blog

In my annual informal review of social networks among our cousins and other people under 21 that are still fickle, Facebook has completely replaced MySpace in their lives. In fact, the only people I hear talking regularly about MySpace are a bit older and just learning about social networking. I know, I know, small sample size, but why are social networks so fleeting?

  • The network is only cool if your friends are there (a reason why MySpace became so popular)
  • The network is only cool if it feels special or unique (a reason why MySpace is struggling to keep people)
  • The network is only cool if it keeps adding new, non-annoying stuff (this is why Facebook’s app API is cleaning up… they are doing more to make things less-annoying, and why LinkedIn and MySpace are suffering). I still prefer LinkedIn for the business side of things, though I don’t actually do much with it other than collect professional contacts… most of its services feel too oriented towards “real” businessmen and not CEOs that still write code
  • The network is only cool if it doesn’t get filled with so much junk and spam that it stops becoming useful (a reason why MySpace, and email, the original tech social network, are suffering). I believe that the single biggest reason for the success of walled-garden social networks is their ability to fight off spam.

Continued...

Published August 16, 2007 – Reads 15,240
Copyright © 2007 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.

More Stories By Dylan Schiemann

Dylan Schiemann, CEO, SitePen Inc., co-creator of Dojo Toolkit

It all started in 1999 when Dylan dropped out of the PhD program at UCLA and left the fascinating world of statistics of shear-induced rearrangements in a two-dimensional model foam and the accumulation of glucosaminyl(acyl)phosphatidylinositol in an S3 HeLa subline expressing normal dolicholphosphomannose synthase activity to refocus his efforts on the future of the web. As CEO of SitePen and co-founder of the Dojo Toolkit, Dylan is best known for building web applications that make use of JavaScript/Ajax, Dojo, and other standard web development technologies. He has helped develop web apps for companies including Renkoo, Informatica, Security FrameWorks, and Vizional Technologies.

Dylan is an avid Oakland A's fan, a lover of the hammer throw, devoted husband, father to three obnoxious dogs and resides on JetBlue Airways.

Comments (1) View Comments

Share your thoughts on this story.

Add your comment
You must be signed in to add a comment. Sign-in | Register

In accordance with our Comment Policy, we encourage comments that are on topic, relevant and to-the-point. We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence, or other inappropriate material that violates our Terms and Conditions, and will block users who make repeated violations. We ask all readers to expect diversity of opinion and to treat one another with dignity and respect.

Most Recent Comments
Facebook News Desk 08/16/07 08:37:24 AM EDT

In my annual informal review of social networks among our cousins and other people under 21 that are still fickle, Facebook has completely replaced MySpace in their lives. In fact, the only people I hear talking regularly about MySpace are a bit older and just learning about social networking. I know, I know, small sample size, but why are social networks so fleeting?