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Myspace vs. Facebook-my take

Thursday, 23rd July 2009
50 States in 50 Days 2009 Home page Social media talk

           A year ago, or two years ago, this would not even be a question, and I would say that the answer is apparent. Facebook has won.

           In 2007, I toured the UK, and relied heavily on myspace to promote the tour. I reached out to thousands of fans/friends through myspace, and I would say that in the larger cities a fourth of the audience came directly as a result of those efforts. Not true anymore.

          I can only report what I’m seeing. I’m not an expert, and will not throw numbers and statistics around, but what I hear mostly on myspace is, “sorry I missed your show. I hardly ever login to my myspace anymore.”

         I also have to go with what my personal habits are. I’ve ALWAYS found myspace frustrating in terms of it’s sluggishness, and the freedom that it gives its users to “pimp” their pages…….resulting in some horrendous uses of unicorns, sparkley stuff, volcanoes with some sort of mythical creature rising out of it…….or, well, you know the ones……..but I put up with it because I was making real friends, and fans from interacting with people there. It was simply the most powerful marketing tool I had run across as an independent touring artist.

         I now only go to myspace to scan through messages, and approve comments on my site. I probably shouldn’t feel this way, but I kind of have an attitude of pity towards those that are still trying to interact on myspace. To me, Facebook has eaten their lunch. Sadly, because I have 42,000ish friends on myspace, as opposed to 3,100 on Facebook. I wish the opposite were true.

         This past weekend as I traveled back from a show in France with my band members. Each individual reported similar habits to me. They spot check emails, and use myspace to host their music and videos. That is it. That is it in a nutshell. Myspace is now hosting people’s content, but for real interaction I believe people are now using facebook.

         Facebook has instant chat, email, newsfeed, status updates, etc, etc…….all those things that lead to instant contact with friends. The feed can be incredible to watch. I literally use it as a news service. I use it to see how my friends are fairing, and it is incredibly useful to me as an artist when I’m trying to get the word out about something……….a blog, a show, a visit to a city…..whatever.

         To me it is almost as important as my mobile phone. Maybe even more important.

        I’ll be reaching out to my facebook friends to help me book the 2009 50 States in 50 Days tour, much like I did last year on myspace with last year’s 50 States in 50 Days tour, and it will be much more effective.

        Anyway, that is just my opinion. What is yours? I hope that if you haven’t already made the jump to Facebook…….that you will sign up today, and if you have………..then get in touch with me there!
Kevin Montgomery on Facebook

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UPDATE: Last night I had quite the discussion with my facebook friends. 53 comments…….mostly within a space of about an hour. We were on quite a roll. THAT is why I love facebook. Here are some of the comments. 

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  • Brian Bergman
    Better late than never! I started off as a MySpace advocate. Loved it for the ability to connect with family and friends but over time (as you mentioned) it became sluggish and lost its sex-appeal (literally and figuratively) after all, they say MySpace is the new Booty Call. So, I find it interesting to note that while MySpace started out as a site for musicians, it has devolved into a meat market and Facebook, which started out as a meat market where you could rate women, evolved into a classier social network. I have since become a Facebook advocate and will shortly delete my MySpace account.
  • I almost see a theme arising here. Alot of people have problems with the apps that people seem to get distracted by.................and there is an easy fix for that. Just block them in your settings............
    Also, facebook of last year is a whole different thing ...........the new facebook rocks, and hardly resembles it.
    I was about a day away from leaving facebook when they suddenly came out with the chat..........and that made it dynamic enough for me to stay..........but now it is even more dynamic.......I love it.
  • Liz,
    That is strange. That is not my experience at all on facebook. In fact, facebook is the number one referrer now to my blog here......I update myspace as well with every blog, but people seem to be more active on facebook.
    I know what you mean about the music thing, but it is not really meant to be a site for music.
    That being said.........I have "my band" and "Ilike" on my site and with one click people can hear music and see videos.
    I don't have the problems with slowness either on facebook. Could be a connection thing?
  • Liz
    I'm in the minority: I loathe FB with a passion unbound. Don't get me wrong - I've vacated MySpace for FB like everyone else has, but as a music consumer rather than a touring musician, I feel:

    1. It's too dang hard to explore/find new music on there, Imeem hookup notwithstanding. MySpace was and still is FAR easier.

    2. I miss being able to have a music blog right there on my MySpace page that ppl could just click to easily and effortlessly w/o having to leave the site. It's almost impossible to direct FB traffic to your blog. Half the damn time you get a script error if you try to click on someone's link.

    4. FB is SO slow. As a former journalist, I type 120 words a minute, so typing 2 characters, hitting the space bar and being told to wait 5 minutes does NOT set well with me.

    5. The appeal of throwing virtual sheep at people is, for me, no appeal at all.

    4. Of course, once you take away all of FB's lame quizzes and all the stupid apps, you're left with... Twitter. Which is where I spend most of my time nowadays. So far, it has none of the disadvantages of FB and ALMOST all of the advantages of MySpace. But I miss MySpace, I really do.
  • As a young singer/songwriter, I have found that Facebook is much easier to use and accessible. I found your post very interesting! Looking forward to connecting on Twitter!
  • Drew,
    They did rescind their views on copyright after an uproar......at least that is what I understand.
    Yes, If they are just hosts for people's stuff......eventually it won't make sense.
  • I was on facebook but left, partly because it didn't do anything for me really (no i don't want to throw a sheep at somebody) but mainly because of their stance on copywrite and privacy. I guess that being much more nomadic you find a lot more benefit than me in the regular updates, as i still gig in the local area i guess i get most of my interaction face to face.
    Tools for a job to a large extent, but i agree with you that if all that myspace becomes is a hosting engine then i can't see it lasting.
  • Tarleisio, Yes, I think myspace missed the boat in alot of ways. They started trying to play catch-up with facebook, but never truly made their site interactive with other users the way facebook did.
  • I'm beginning to think that MySpace lost an opportunity when it had the chance to become THE social networking/interaction/music site by adding a horrific amount of apps and other stuff that just tend to bog everything down and make it s-l-o-w. In contrast Facebook is immediate, spontaneous and directly interactive, and so far as that goes, I like it much better! I use both, if not equally, but in all honesty, Facebook is better because it is instant. Myspace missed the boat, and I think we're beginning to see the results. Too bad!
  • One more point I should make in myspace's defense, Facebook's "Fan" pages suck as far as I can tell. Talk about undynamic! It's hard to add events for example. I have more interaction with potential fans on my personal page than on my fan page. And know one can really find the fan page unless you point them to it.
  • Marybeth,
    That is THE question, and exactly what I thought this past weekend when every single musician in the band said that they used myspace to host their songs and videos..........a hosting service. This cannot go on forever.
    While I believe there are some holdouts......I believe that most people are only checking their myspace accounts sporadically.
    Last night I checked my "Friend Requests"........I have about 140 friend requests waiting to be approved. Every single one of them were from bands, or musicians......except for about 9.
    That tells me that some bands are still using their bots and going on and seeking new fans, but normal people have moved on. It was a whole other scene 2 years ago. It was on fire.
    Don't get me wrong. I love myspace, and wish that it had an active, healthy community.......but I'm seeing it dwindle.
    That being said. Myspace drove 30% of the traffice yesterday to this blog......followed by Facebook and twiiter..........BUT, I have 42,000 friends there, and 3,100 on Facebook........SO, statistically, facebook is sending more click throughs.
    Just some thoughts.
  • Hey Kevin,
    the two things I still find myspace useful for are, as you mentioned, to host my music and videos, but also its a useful tool for researching venues and musicians in a specific market. In this respect, it's superior. But for interacting with fans/friends, Facebook has indeed won. I wonder how long myspace will want to act as free hoster to musicians if the other part of its audience falls away.
  • Julie
    Hey, Kevin. I'm a friend of yours on MySpace and have a Facebook account as well. I can see how Facebook serves people better as a networking tool, particularly now that it's the site of choice for more people; I think that people new to social interaction sites choose Facebook over MySpace. So certainly if one is trying to reach the largest number of people, Facebook makes more sense. But for inteaction, I prefer MySpace; it has the same features (news feeds, status updates, and IM) as Facebook for immediate interaction, but it's also more personal. I'm no fan of sparkles or unicorns, but one gets a better sense of a person through a MySpace page than through the sterile Facebook format. And I have a lot of friends who are visual artists, and MySpace is a nice forum for their work. Finally, I blog and am interested in others' blogs, and those are presented better in MySpace too. Simple need will bring me to Facebook more often eventually as friends migrate over, but MySpace is a nicer place and more user-friendly in my book. :)
  • Will, I hate those apps, too, but you can easily turn them off in your settings.
    Not sure what it should be telling me? What is tells me is that 3100 people are much more interactive than the 42,000 because of the 42,000..............there is a very small percentage of them actually active anymore.
    Aagin, just my opinion, but it is what I'm seeing.
  • "I have 42,000ish friends on myspace, as opposed to 3,100 on Facebook. I wish the opposite were true." Shouldn't that be telling you something else? I realize Facebook is this moment's fave flavor, but if I want instant communication (which I *can* do on MySpace), I use a device called a "phone." I personally HATE facebook, all the third party apps that are STUPID (yes, Mr. President, it's OK to use the word when it fits). And what about music; no comparison.
  • There's no question, Kevin. I'm close to 1,000 friends on Myspace and about half that on Facebook. People are using Facebook to say something (something everyone can do even if it is just taking a quiz), and people are using Myspace to show something. Your point above about what they are showing design-wise generally isn't that much to look at. Not that some people haven't made beautiful sites on there, but that's beside the point.

    Facebook and Twitter take up the large part of my day in front of the computer because I know I'm getting through to people because of the feedback I get. I have to mention that the amount of information I absorb is also a big reason I spend more time on those two. I also have to mention that I have a heck of a lot of fun on those two!
  • Totally agree. The flow of information through facebook is amazing..............and twitter. Those are my two go-to places to learn, browse, think........or just have fun with my interactions with friends.
  • I'm totally with you. I only have a MySpace page because I practically have to, just to keep my name my own. But I'm all about Facebook. It's just more, well, polite. And the actual NETWORKING capabilities are without parallel.
  • Without parallel is right. I cannot imagine my life without facebook now. I was serious when I said it was more important than my phone. I can essentially do everything I now use a phone for right on facebook!
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