Differences and Similarities Amongst On-Line Social Networks

My Space

• 80 million users and counting• Equal division between male/female

users• Over 78% of users are 18-40-years-old

Dangerous Territory

MySpace quickly emerged as a hunting ground for child predators and sexual deviants

Most recently, a 15 year-old Floridian girl was verbally lured from her home by a 40-year-old man with a violent criminal history.

Positive Aspects

MySpace is a great place to reuinte with old friends or reconnet with new people.

It offers over 2 million social networks, so a person can meet people with similar interests.

A great, free self-promotion tool

Facebook

Markets itself as, “a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.”

Originally was to be used by college students only, however, in order to compete with MySpace, Facebook needed to expand to an inclusive member network.

Negative Aspects

Like MySpace, predators may be lurking, however, they are more common to MySpace.

Some people become addicted to electronic networks and forgo physical interaction with humans.

Positive Aspects

Users of FaceBook seem more responsible of their actions while logged-on.

Because it started as a college resource, most users are college aged or are now adults who used it while in college.

Linked-In

Linked-In is a marketing tool for those who want to strengthen business contacts.

Negative Aspects

There aren’t any. But, if a user seeks to be entertained like in MySpace or Facebook, they will not find it here.

Positive Aspects

Used by adults. Actually has a purpose other than

“chatting” with friends. A good resource for self-promotion.