As a 20-something-year-old, I got my first computer when I was in middle school and became an Internet addict shortly after. Back then, it was all about Yahoo chat rooms (before the days of To Catch a Predator), ICQ and Angelfire Web pages. Yes, I learned basic HTML around the age of 13 thanks to Angelfire.
Social networking and instant communication are things I've grown up with. However, the world of social networking has come a long way since I was first introduced to it. The big four in this category now include MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Sure, there are others, but these are the most used and well-known. (Not a scientific fact. Well, it may be if you research it.) In my eyes, these sites aren't really competing with one another (with the exception, possibly, of MySpace and Facebook). Instead, they each have different uses and serve different markets. For some users, it may be beneficial to be active on all four, and for others it may only make sense to use one.
MySpace
First up is MySpace. Of the four, this was the first I was introduced to. I remember it well. I was a freshman in college with no knowledge of "The Facebook," as the first college
I attended wasn't eligible for membership. I originally joined MySpace to keep in contact with a friend I met on vacation. Not a single other person I knew had it. After a few months, a select few began to catch onto the MySpace fad, and eventually I talked my friends into joining, too. A year later, everyone had it.MySpace was, in my opinion, the first of its kind. It allowed you to build a single page of information about yourself, complete with pictures (albeit you could only have eight at the time), lists of your interests and a comment section, that others on the site could search out and view. You could add whoever you wanted as your "friend," and friend-collecting was a popular pastime.
As time went on, MySpace became more customizable (backgrounds, music, etc.). It also became more annoying because some users would fill their pages up with blinking text and graphics. (Although I must admit I loved that HTML was supported because it allowed me to use my basic HTML knowledge and do things others were still trying to catch on to, like use the "♥".) As the majority began to join, the early adapters (including myself) were losing interest.
Pros: MySpace is largely used by musicians, as the site is really the only of the four that is conducive to listening to music (although Facebook is now making moves). It's a place you can go to find emerging bands and new songs. MySpace is also big with small or local businesses (especially bars and clubs) that want to attempt to build their fan base by friending (probably not a real word) people and promoting upcoming events.
Cons: Overall, MySpace has become a site filled with spam and phishing scams. When I log in, which is rarely, I am either forced to change my password or am bombarded with spam messages and comments. Also, the amount of HTML and customization that is allowed can slow down or freeze your browser. Not to mention, it's usually not appealing to look at.
Niche markets: Tweens (this seems to be the demographic MySpace was created for), musicians, celebrities, small businesses, laggards
During my second year of college, I was researching schools to transfer to. Luckily for me, students at each of the colleges I was considering had access to Facebook. As soon as I got assigned a school e-mail account (which wasn't even from the school I ended up choosing), I
registered. I quickly realized that my love for Facebook's more streamlined design far exceeded my like for MySpace. I continued to use both of them, although the amount of time I devoted to MySpace dwindled.In the nearly four years that I've been on Facebook, it has gone through massive amounts of change. High school students were granted access, followed by everyone else on Earth, their mothers and their grandmothers. Many who joined in the college-only days are still adjusting to the fact that parents, other relatives and employers now have access to and regularly use the site. As such, the concern for privacy settings has gone through the roof.
With its changes, Facebook has become a great tool for companies, brands and causes, as fan pages have been added, where the creator can grow a following and interact with them on a larger-scale. For example, I am a fan of The Today Show, and Hoda and Kathie Lee often use give-aways as a way to get their viewers involved on Facebook.
Pros: It's great for staying connected with former college classmates as well as other friends and family. It's also an easy tool for photo sharing. Even if you don't keep in close contact with a Facebook friend, you can stay up-to-date with what's happening with the person. At this point in my life, that mainly consists of finding out who is engaged, who got married and who had a baby.
Cons: Because of the ability to keep tabs on people, Facebook has turned Gen-Y (and now other generations) into Facebook stalkers. People you don't want checking up on you have access to large amounts of information from reading your wall and looking at your photos. This goes for potential employers, too, which has become a problem for many job seekers. Luckily Facebook has adapted to user's needs and changed its privacy settings. Now anyone who has half a brain has set their profile to private, created limited profile lists, etc.
Niche markets: College students and alumni, high school students, both large and small businesses, everyone else
I joined LinkedIn in early 2008 and didn't really do much with it. I input what I was looking for (a career in PR) and information from my resume, but I didn't have any connections up until this year when I started using it a little more. Now I find it useful for researching people (such as HR) or browsing job listings through @heatherhuhman's intern and entry-level PR group, #PRintern | #EntryPR.
Pros: The biggest benefit to LinkedIn is the ability to connect with others in your industry or those at a company you'd like to work with through shared colleagues or acquaintances. As
mentioned, it's also a good tool for researching companies and finding human resources information. In addition, there are many groups designed for those in different industries or with certain interests.Cons: Connecting with someone on LinkedIn is more formal than with other social networking sites, as can be expected since it's a professional network. Because of this, however, the site isn't as conducive to casual communication as the other sites. Reaching out to those you don't have a real-life relationship with or aren't connected to through someone you know isn't really supported.
Niche markets: Professionals, job seekers
Twitter is the baby of the group. According to Wikipedia, it was founded in 2006, but I've only been tweeting since early 2009. Twitter is still a mystery to many. Some have never even used the microblogging service, and others that have tried
it still don't get it. In fact, according to @Mashable (a top tweeter), 60% of Twitter users stop using it within the first month. Why? Maybe they can't see past the surface. "What are you doing?" is the question you are asked when making updates or tweets. If you look deeper, you'll find that it would be more appropriate if this said "What do you find interesting and want to share?" (or something along those lines).Twitter users are often sharing links to interesting articles or blogs with their followers. There's a lot of great conversation that goes on that has nothing to do with what you're physically doing. Those who only give it a chance for a short period don't get the full effect. How can they when they don't allow time to build a network?
I admit I didn't get Twitter at first, and I wrote about it in a previous blog post. I didn't know anyone who had it. My friends either thought it was useless or had no idea what it was. It was a couple of months before I even found anyone I knew in real life on it. (Since, I have only talked one friend into joining and, although she uses it differently than I do, she likes it.)
I use Twitter for a few different purposes. First is in my job hunt. I follow numerous recruiters and HR people who regularly post job openings. Tweeting is an easy way to get a single message out to a lot of people because retweets are big in the land of Twitter.
I also use Twitter as a news source. With trending topics that can alert you to breaking news (look out for spam) and those you follow sharing links to blogs, Twitter is abound with information. The best part is you get to pick who you follow, so in turn, you're choosing the type of information that is shared with you on your feed.
This leads to another way I use Twitter. I follow lots of people in the PR industry. This helps with the previous two uses, as these people sometimes tweet about available jobs and often share interesting PR blog posts and news articles. It's also nice to be able to keep up with what's going on in the industry and communicate with others who have a shared interest in the field.
Pros: Twitter is a great tool for communicating to the masses. But you only have 140 characters, so you don't have to see others' long rants. You can also reach out to people you don't know without seeming weird. You can use Twitter to easily get or spread news. You can also direct people to your blog or Web site by sending out a simple tweet (which may be retweeted). In addition, Twitter is useful for getting quick, real-time feedback. There are also hashtags, which organize information and allow you to follow what's being said about a certain subject or event, including entire chats (like #journchat). For those in the PR field, you can use Twitter to reach out to journalists and bloggers.
Cons: You only have 140 characters, which isn't always enough. Not everyone gets it. It can take some time to build your Twitter following to the point of being useful. Once you've built your following, it can be hard to keep up with all the DMs and @ replies. There's also many spam accounts (mainly porn and get-rich quick spammers) that Twitter needs to find a way to deal with. In addition, many, many Twitterers like to collect followers. They don't understand that Twitter is about quality and not quantity, in terms of both followers and tweets.
Niche markets: Professionals, especially those in PR, marketing and communication-related fields; news junkies; journalists; bloggers; anyone who likes to communicate in a laid-back manner
What are your thoughts about the evolution of social networking sites?
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