I’m with you in being shocked. I’d love to see what study/survey they pulled those stats from. Let me get this straight, 29% of the U.S. isn’t even on the internet (www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm), but 40% of all mothers in the U.S. are on MySpace? From what control group? I just don’t buy it.

I gave up on MySpace a long time ago as a personal site. Now I only use it to occasionally look for musicians and that’s usually if it’s the only place I can find music samples because I prefer artists’ actual websites.

yes, thats weird!
now the only thing i like about myspace is that i always get the email alert when you post a new blog there, so i know i have to go to davidusher.com..hehehe am i weird too?

I am astounded by the minutes statistic.

For the most part, I now prefer Facebook. However, the friends from my past that I hadn’t seen in years that I have now reconnected with are spread across both sites. So, I will continue to stay active on both.

Funny, I was just noting on my blog that there is still a lot of juice left in Myspace for musicians and marketers. Coors Light in the U.S., for example, just recently got into Myspace and are having some real success with it according to what I’ve heard.

i find it a tough pill to swallow, its so 30 seconds ago:)

I read somewhere that Canada (and Toronto in particular) has the highest per capita usage of Facebook in the world. So I think we see a bit of a skewed perspective on what is going on online. I don’t know if the US is just behind Canada in terms of the next big thing or if they took a different path but I don’t think Facebook has pulled away as many users there as it has here.

As for the stats, I can believe it about having a profile since you need one to look around and lots of mothers may be checking on their kids! Besides, many who have moved on still maintain a myspace profile. But the minutes seem unbelievable to me!

The place where MySpace excels is with sharing music and related info (tour dates etc.) so I go there for that.

Those statistics are indeed shocking David, but I wonder if it has a lot to do with the demographics of MySpacee users. There’s a great article by Danah Boyd that talks about the relation of social media tools to class, and I think it elucidates why there is still a strong disposition in the US to use a service like MySpace.

i think it has much to do with becoming battle weary from the web. once youve been around feed readers and news feeds you want information served up fast and simple. you want the goods and you want them now. there is very little patients left for bad design and crappy slideshows:)

i barely go to myspace nowadays…because of it’s structure, and the way it blocks external links from installed widgets (though there are ways to go around from it - but it takes a hardcore programmer)…design structure, engineering and accessibility are i think the factors that people choose from….

It is very easy to fool people with statistics. You word something in such a way as to lead people to the perception you want without actually lying.

For example, you ask 100 mothers if they have even visited a myspace page and you may get 40 of them to say yes. Maybe they just checked out a band once or spied on their kids occasionally. It doesn’t mean 40% of mothers are active on myspace.

I’m not saying myspace is dead. It is still very vibrant and is still growing though it personally gives me a headache when I look at it.

Well, feedback from clan is that they don’t like Facebook but they go because “everyone else is doing it”. I don’t think it will last. *shrugs*

Facebook has less junk and oise to get through. I can pop from page tp page faster on Facebook than on myspace. I only look ay messages on myspace, I don’t spend much time there. However I did put “Kill The Lights” up on my myspace page. Would like to do the same for my Facebook.

i still use Myspace but very very rarely. I found Facebook better, so im using Facebook now. Myspace is a crappy place but to discover new music, musicians, its good.. ! Thats why im still going on MS, for the music.

Now this is funny! A firefox plug-in that warns you about having accidentally landed on myspace. Check out the Techcrunch story http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/08/firefox-add-on-to-save-you-from-myspace/

It is obviously useless but still pretty funny.

A major Myspace redesign is on the way … finally!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/12/redesign-a-first-step-in-bringing-order-to-the-myspace-chaos/

I’m not sure about those stats, but I do know a couple things: whenever I’m doing research on music or musicians, myspace is one of the first places I go because the music player is still ubiquitous - 95% of the bands I can think of have music on one - and any old high school friends 40 and over who get back in touch with me have done it through myspace. It’s messy and annoying, but for certain things it’s reliable and non-first-adopters are hanging on.

I tend to stick to Facebook these days but am still finding myself ocassionally flipping over to MySpace to touch base with some folks who haven’t migrated elsewhere. Many bands, DJs, promoters, artists, etc., I tend to see stick to MySpace and it’s hard to get them sold on the idea of Facebook. Curious to hear your thoughts on that one as you are an anomoly in that you reach out via many different lines of communication. I loved your explanation of allowing your fans to participate in the experience of the creative process in your music and not just in the finished product. I’m wondering if that type of engagement is more condusive to the Facebook app options?

This is off topic a bit but still interesting…http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/business/media/16myspace.html?ex=1371355200&en=149d7662a39a5b33&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Oh, and lastly, I’m a mom and while my kids are friends on my page, I most definitely do not use it to spy on them as I feel I have no right to infringe on their creative outlet. They are well aware that I can look at any time and they do not filter their colourful commentary for me, I was definitely well versed in the “f word” at 14 so I’m not easily shocked.

I check Facebook way more often, and keep the Friends status page constantly open on my iPhone (bad, baaaaad habit, but I live and work in Silicon Valley, in this industry, so I suppose I can get away with calling it multitasking and have it actually be true).

In defense of MySpace, one of the things I always liked far more was the lack of 2085081085081084 completely irritating and useless applications (number is approximate). Now Facebook definitely has useful apps, and I adore those. I’m just not into being attacked by vampires who go to war with zombies drinking at the open bar located somewhere in the circle of Hotness, surrounded by a Little Green Patch that grows Free Gifts that came from the house that Jack built, if you get my drift. So that “I bought you as my pet!” thing that recently cropped up on MySpace? Dude, that’s got to go, otherwise they’ve given up what was left of their saving grace.

Y’know. From my perspective and all.