Facebook vs. MySpace: Tale of the Tape
Written by Aaron Prebluda (contact - e-mail) -- February 26th, 2009 | Share - Save - E-mailEarlier this month, Compete reported that Facebook overtook MySpace in Unique Visitors trafficking to the site:
Sure, this was a symbolic takeover, but it should have come as no surprise to anyone closely monitoring the two social giants over the past year.
Using a few different Compete PRO Site Analytics reports, I drilled down to take a closer look at trended traffic to understand the key metrics around Facebook’s rise to power in the social media arena.
The First Blow: October 2007 – Stickiness
While Unique Visitor data is certainly newsworthy, given Social Media’s value proposition to advertisers from an engagement perspective, the stickiness metrics are arguably more important than high level site traffic alone. Looking at historical engagement data, I rolled back the clock to October 2007, where we see Facebook eclipsing MySpace in the number of pages per visit for a visitor. This would prove to be the first of many battles won by Facebook along the way.
Round 2: Reach
Examining Daily Reach (people visiting a site on a given day as a percentage of all internet users on that day) over the past 6 months, we see that on January 4th, Facebook overtook MySpace in terms of Reach, surging forward in February to achieve a remarkable 15% (and climbing) Reach vs. 11% for MySpace.
Round 3: Attention
In terms of time spent, Monthly Attention (percentage of time spent on a site as a percentage of total time spent online) illustrates Facebook’s robust growth over the last year. In early 2008, approximately 7% of all time spent online was on MySpace (vs. 1.5% for Facebook), but as the year rolled along, Facebook gained more and more attention, eventually overtaking MySpace in October. As of January 2009, 5% of all time spent online was on Facebook, more than double MySpace.
The Knockout Punch?: Average Stay
If you’re MySpace, the graph below certainly stings – in the past two years, average stay for a visitor to the site has dropped from 30 minutes to 10 minutes. In the meantime, Facebook has steadily upped this number, leaving its rival in the dust. As of January 2009, Facebook kept visitors engaged on site over 7 minutes longer on average than MySpace, with the average stay still on the rise.
What will the rest of 2009 bring for both of these sites? The Compete team will continue to track the story going forward, but in the meantime, get in on the action yourself on compete.com.
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February 27th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Facebook is crap. Why do I have to give my real name? These guys want to own and monetize everything they touch! If Steve Jobs, the most famous control freak on the planet started a social networking site, it would be like Facebook. Control the sheep and sell them your proprietary crap.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Wow! Interesting point of view, but i prefer myspace than facebook!
February 27th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Of course, MySpace is losing out. It’s a dinosaur from an earlier era, propped up and still alive because it’s being fed by Rupert Murdoch.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Facebook has been growing tremendously because the user experience on Myspace has deteriorated in quality. Myspace needs to make it mandatory for all users to upgrade to their new 2.0 style to clean up some of the pages that are just drenched with horrible flash designs and ads.
February 28th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Interesting comparison but Myspace reportedly makes more money than Facebook.
February 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Are there particular demographics behind these trends? For example, my professional friends seem to be gravitating to Facebook, in part, because of the underemphasis on the need to page design, more adult feel, etc.
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I think all the crazy “mestup” stuff on my space is why the people who use it do. thay just want to be free to custimize however they like.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
i prefer facebook over myspace because facebook is more up to date and myspace doesnt have everyone upgrade to 2.0 version. also for myspace chatting u have to install things and facebook its easier to chat and ther is much more to do because of the hundreds of applications. we can play and participate in games, quizzes, tests, polls, and much much more. myspace also has too many ads, it just looks messy, and it causes pop ups to come on my computer.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
myspace used by americans, facebook used by people from world wide
March 10th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Hmmm…. While Facebook is being accepted on a more global scale, MySpace is still the defacto standard. It is kinda’ like a ‘67 Chevy (MySpace) vs. a 2008 Prius (FB). I would much rather drive the Chevy. Besides… Tom was my friend when I didn’t have any.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Myspace is at deaths door. The stuff that’s dragging it down is the awful “blinged” out pages that take forever to load and are unreadable because of cluttered backgrounds, video and unsolicited music. Massive amounts of spam and spam profiles and the fact that its impossible to find people because their real names aren’t required are also reasons myspace is failing.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
facebook is just easyer to understand. myspace gets complicated. i used to use myspace more, then it started glitching, my movies wouldnt loas…so facebook was easyer.
just opinion.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
We picked facebook for our fan page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purcellville-VA/Main-Street-Wings-Grill/57268243066
seems it is EASIER to blog/add comments/open for discussion/reviews. It is NOT, however easy to advertise/promote…
thanks for the info!
April 4th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Sometimes when I go on my myspace it just doesn’t load at all! It SAYS it’s loading…..either way, my facebook pops up right away and way more of my friends are on facebook
April 4th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
I am finding it quite remarkable that people still believe myspace is better than facebook. I can only assume that these are the people who don’t like change. On the Consumer Behavious graph these people would be called laggards, nothing wrong with that but those who simply refuse to move to the better product out of fear or laziness.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
the reason i went looking through this is because im hearing morea bout faceboook and and myspace is crap. well im a dedicated myspace user and ive never even look at facebook. myspace was a atomatic sucess. in just 3 years it was in top 3 visiteed sites in the world. facebook ofcourse will be better cause it looked where myspace messed up and fixed there flaws and added more things. now i herd about this new site whre more stars are on. its caleed twitter. and i think that it will become a major hit and when it does myspce will be left in the dust. but myspace will still be around cause all my friends are on and im sure they wont leave thank you for reading
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April 10th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
thank you
April 10th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
thank you my friend
April 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
thank you,
April 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
very nice sharing, thank you
April 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I believe that…
May 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
mypac sucks myspace is O.K Facebook is awesome
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May 19th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
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May 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I haven’t used facebook yet but certain to create an acct. My problem with myspace is all the spam accts.and its all about your number of friends and all the myspace games. I’m going to facebook for my friends and myspace for games only.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Myspace violates every web standard created over the last 15+ years. Hot pink text on black background. BLINKING background. Music blaring on page load. Sure that shit is fun for the person creating it, but it’s CRAP for all their friends. Facebook is nice, clean, white background. In one sentence: Facebook is LESS ANNOYING. Also I don’t get friend requests from fake skanks in their underwear on facebook. :-) And I’m a guy, I like skanks! …just not fake skanks.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
wow myspace sucks. facebook is way better and myspace is stupid cuz you have to make a gay username and not as good as stuff and only emos and faggots go onthat stupid shitty site
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
how could you use myspace when facebook is the much better version?
saying you choose myspace over facebook is like saying you’d rather like having a tiny bowl of ice cream over a banana split
July 10th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Facebook owns…the graphs proove it lol.
July 18th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Have not used facebook much, but my family members use it, so I go there now and then. Have used myspace for a long time and it has been easy to find people and interact with them. I know that the image of myspace is that it is for kids, but I am not impressed by having to impress anyone, so I still use myspace.
I like being able to look at people’s profiles before I have to get down on my hands and knees and beg them to please please be my facebook friend. I guess facebook users have a lot to hide from the public. Facebook wants to send me a text message to my cell phone (say what?) to keep me from getting captchas that never load so I can request people to my friends even though I can’t tell if it is really the person who I want to have as a friend because I don’t know anything about them except their face, which does not do me any good if I have not seen them for 20 years. Anybody in the world can see my myspace account and they don’t have to login or be my friend.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Facebook Pros:
Easy to use
Simple page layouts
Parents and teachers can have one without criticism (could be con)
Based more on friends than on celebs and bands.
The advertisements don’t slow down the page as much as MySpace ads do.
Facebook Cons:
Full of bots
The advertisements are misleading and often lead to installing adware
EVERYTHING is posted on the “wall”
50% of the time, opening pages results in an error
Somewhat slow
Myspace Pros:
The ability to change the colors of your page
Bands and celebs have pages so you can obtain tour information etc.
Myspace Cons:
Full of bots (lots of sexbots)
Rogue software sometimes pops up while looking at pages
The advertisements are misleading and often lead to adware
You get invites from perverted old men and crappy bands.
The pages often load slow because people have so many graphics and stuff.
Facebook is better than MySpace because it is based more on finding friends and family instead of celebs and bands.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:54 am
I like Myspace alot better than Facebook…I hear alot of people say it is easy to find people on Facebook but I find it more simple finding friends on Myspace because you can put in the state,city,age and everything else on the person you wanna find..I also like how you can costomize your own profile however you want.Facebook is a lil’ to boring for me,I am gonna stick w/ Myspace.
July 27th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
MySpace is a pool of clutter, appealing only to teenagers that most likely prefer MySpace because they can crap-ify their pages as they do with their own bedroom.
Facebook is neat and you know the saying LESS IS MORE.
July 30th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Facebook is organized, faster, and easier to keep in touch with friends & family than other social networking sites. Myspace, is really just that, a site that gives you space to make a personal website = boring.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Who cares.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Just get over it. :P
August 5th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Since my primary purpose is, other than simply to contact someone, to host photos accessible to the world. (Simply contacting someone by text is done better, and PRIVATELY with email anyway! For one thing, there is a record.)
It’s nice to see what an old friend is up to these days, without prior contact for an email address. Facebook makes a name search more immediate and productive. However, Facebook sticks the “wait until (or if) you get permission” crap in the way.
Photos are MUCH easier to deal with on Myspace. IMHO, Facebook as a much less mature product, but then, fads don’t always follow the most sensible route. For example, Facebook tries to be a proto-Twitter with Borg-like updates, for ALL your “friends” to see, a feature that I can’t stand. But this is probably the very thing that teens and tweens desire.
In addition, Facebook fans probably love all the totally useless, time wasting crap like “Farming”, “building a Mafia”, and “sending” people everything from drinks to motorcycles. I swear, everytime I visit Facebook, I can almost hear highschool students in a hallway.
With Myspace, one can choose an alias, the look of their page, and so on. Myspace is more for the individual and Facebook is more for the Borg. But, resistance is futile!
August 7th, 2009 at 12:58 am
@BeauEvil:
I do agree with you about Facebook allowing to send virtual crap and the extremely STUPID tests people take. But you can easily ignore it all.
The problem is these things also exist in MySpace (not necessarily within the site but people post crap from other sites). Is it a condition that people on MySpace suffer from, thinking that animated gif files are cool?, blasting shitty music as soon as you come in and have to scroll over and over to find out where the damn player is so you can turn it off?
If you can hear highscool students when you visit Facebook, do you hear elementary school students when you go to MySpace?
=)
August 13th, 2009 at 3:05 am
ive used myspace on and off since 2005. ive used facebook for abt 3-4 months in early 2009. in my personal opinion facebook is way too nosy. i found myself with a lot of friends on facebook of people from hs i never really communicated with and it was awkward to see what they were doing on a daily basis.. the only reason i even still use myspace is because of one thing…. MUSIC kids.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:09 am
facebook is the nosiest application you can possibly use… o wait i havnt tried twitter yet.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Yeah I get about 10 facebook emails a week about friends liking my page though I dont even have one. Reminds me of those fake dating sites and have fake people to gain users. I still like my myspace though its going downhill. But hey youtube will be next to fail so get ready. All youtube does is allow the same idiots the front page so they always have tons of views and mark my words its gone and something better takes over in 5 years or less.
so enjoy them all while they last.
August 24th, 2009 at 12:07 am
MySpace is terrible from most perspectives. Facebook is the same idea, done right. You can change your privacy settings however you like so that the wrong people don’t see the wrong posts, but in general it has a more open, friendly, and clean feel to it.
Plus someone can’t make it absolutely impossible to read their profile page on FB. Not everyone is a designer, and Facebook acknowledges this so they leave design up to their team. From a marketing perspective, it’s stupid to let folks “re-brand” your website even if it is just one page at a time. Besides, MySpace is for people who have things to hide, like their real name.
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September 3rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
okay
facebook so stupid. u cant create ur profile so its not ur own. u also cant look at other ppl profiles unless u have a facebook.
myspace u cant desing ur own profile and chose to put it on private or public.
the only bad thing about myspace is it keeps updating it self and its starting to become ANNOYING. like the new desing they did for the inbox. all the apps are also stupid.
BTW way more ppl have a myspace and u can look at their profile w/o having one.
so i would have to say myspace any day, any time ;P
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
okay
facebook so stupid. u cant create ur profile so its not ur own. u also cant look at other ppl profiles unless u have a facebook.
myspace u can desing ur own profile and chose to put it on private or public.
the only bad thing about myspace is it keeps updating it self and its starting to become ANNOYING. like the new desing they did for the inbox. all the apps are also stupid.
BTW way more ppl have a myspace and u can look at their profile w/o having one.
myspace is much much better then confusing facebook. so a get a myspace!!
September 4th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I’ve compared Myspace and Facebook on my own time. Curiously of course, as “everyone” seems to be getting a Facebook recently.
I’ve come to find that Myspace is very American based. Whenever I have made any friends from other countries they commonly have a Facebook, in comparison to most people in America having a Myspace. I don’t mind that, I’ve always thought the promotion was just more worldwide.
I don’t care enough to really be “completely loyal” to either sides. I use it as a communication tool. If I can’t find them on Myspace I will find them on Facebook. Easy.
In the end however. I do prefer Myspace.
The reason I do, is because of the custom layouts. I’m big on graphic design, and I love creating something that is all my own. On Facebook it is not as customizable.
I also love the fact that you can choose whether or not your profile is private on myspace. Private profiles have always irritated me, even if I do understand there use.
I also hate app invites.
Something that Myspace copied from Facebook.
Facebook and Myspace both have way too many. -Facebook has more, so in turn Facebook has become more irritable. In my opinion.
Unlike [45] of the responses..
I love how they have been updating myspace. They’re only enhancing, and attempting to regain themselves. I don’t care, I like it.
There are a lot of advertisements however, and spam.
It reminds me a lot of Apple and Microsoft to be honest. Microsoft has problems, mainly because of it’s age. While Apple has mainly great advances but will never beat some of what Microsoft has created.
Really, it’s an equal idea to me.
It all depends on what you prefer in communication and profile design.
Facebook is simple, Myspace is a bit more complicated.
It depends.
But, I like Myspace.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I don’t get it facebook does not have anythibg that myspace doesn’t have how can it be getting better. I never give out my Email or name SO THERE. hackers just need your name to get your ID so i will never give that out.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Facebook Is Really Crap, The Privacy of Members Are Unprotected, They Require Real Names. Makes Post Of Everything You Do On The Site. Even They Have Very High Visitors, Those Are Mostly Multi-Accounts Not Genuine Members. The Only Reason Why We Stay Long On Facebook Is Because of the Idiotic Games Not Knowing That It Is Only A Waste Of Time. Crap For Facebook. Other Social Networks Are Not Like That.
Last Facebook = Simple, No Privacy, Waste of Time, Inconsistent, Childish And Inconsistent.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Heres the deal, MySpace WAS the leader in social networking a few years ago, then it started getting sh*tty by them trying to add all these flash features on it, thats when the glitches started happening, hackers started floating in and hacking into your account. Alot of people then started to use Facebook more, it had a little more security, not as many glitches. Now, MySpace made their new “Beta” Mail, which is PURE garbage, who will really use that? Loads more of spammers started leaking through, I get probably 100 spams a month on my MySpace account, event invites, advertising, etc. I have my security settings maxed out including all messages blocked – but they still go through. I’ve emailed MySpace several times a few months ago, they refuse to respond or help. They are just trying so hard to keep a lead in the social networking world, they dont give a sh*t about their actual users. Their head is barely staying above water next to Twitter and Facebook. They need to either wave the white flag or do something miraculous to fix their sh*tty ass network.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:05 am
This is all coming from a guy who doesn’t really use either, or have any particular interest.
It’s quite obvious that Facebook is rapidly gaining reputation and shadowing Myspace by the second. I’d really say that it depends on your preference, though. If you’ve got one hell of a laggy computer, (though I’m sure most people use it through cell, I wouldn’t know), I wouldn’t suggest you use Myspace. All the flash applications, tricked out .gif pics/layouts. Myspace is more of the website for your average teenager. Expressing their “originality” as one might say through their profile creation. Right now Myspace has the advantage over Facebook, but soon Myspace will be a thing of the past.
Now, Facebook. Facebook is obviously the cleaner version of Myspace, without all the tricked out customizations and all. Personally, I think it’d be alot easier for people who’re just there to communicate and check up on people. Not everyone has the skills that’re required to be able to make a nice profile, and it’s really kind’ve bothersome on Myspace when you see all those other people with nice profiles. Facebook is more equality. It’s pretty much there for the more mature people, who’re more busy in their life and don’t give a hoot about their profile, they just need a mobile way to keep in communication. However, even though Myspace is pedophile/trytogetfamous central, Facebook, I fear, will soon face the same troubles. I believe this has been mentioned by someone earlier. So, I won’t really take that into much account seeing as how the pedos and the people with shreds of hope for fame will go to whatever communication site is winning the most people.
Twitter, I honestly can’t say anything about. Pretty clueless on the whole matter for it, really. As far as I can tell, it’s just like the news. Informing you about every little piece of information that’s floating around, all packed into one website. Also a place for you to stalk people. It’s alot more similar to Facebook than Myspace, of course.
So, summarized up: Facebook is the cleaner, easier way of communication with individuals you just want to keep up with, all you busy people. Myspace is the place to express your “originality” through profile creation, however, I believe the communication and updates lack in comparision with the ever-so-nosy Facebook. Facebook = mature, Myspace = your typical teenager.
My opinion.
November 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Facebook sucks because all you can do is look up people, play gay games that freeze your computer and admire your colorless page. go myspace because unless your computer is a piece of trash you can load myspace, and there is customizing your profile on myspace
November 4th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Facebook is a lame copy of MySpace. MySpace has been around longer, and personally, for all the time I spent creating my myspace page I wouldn’t consider dumping it and starting all over on Facebook. Facebook usually crashes my computer anyway, so I have a much better experience on myspace. What’s all this crap I keep hearing about myspace just being for teenagers? I see people of all ages on myspace, even a few in their 70’s, I may have even seen an 80 something.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Everyone is saying stuff about facebook giving your daily status to others. However, they fail to mention that you can change all of these through privacy settings… yes… privacy settings. I used to be a big fan of Myspace. However, all they’re doing now is taking ideas that Facebook has had for a while, and trying to incorporate it into their own, hence they’re behind.
Customizing the page is complete stupid, as it requires people to load what you create. This in turn is a waste of time.
The only thing that Myspace really has over Facebook is Music.
But that’s gonna be gone in a few months imo.
November 21st, 2009 at 4:17 am
lol myspace is starting to look like facebook
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December 15th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
[...] recently, Facebook passed MySpace in unique visitors. But there may be an upswing, because in April 2009, MySpace announced a [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
I love facebook and if it was up to me I would only use facebook, but I still use myspace because not all of my friends have updated to facebook yet.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:01 am
Well, Facebook is amazingg! I have both Facebook&MySpacee pages. &it’s easy for me to say that I looove Facebook more. I have had my MySpace for around two years before I heard about Facebook. I did not really use my Facebook until 2008ishh. It did not become addicting until the beginning of 2009.. After I started to use that more, I got more appreciation of itt. I am a senior in high school&most of my high school has pages. There are teachers that have Facebooks(which I believe is pretty lameee thoughh.) &also, my family is on facebook. My father is my friend on Facebook, so I always have a reason to keep my information G-Rated. My boss from my job has one&she stalks me too, LMFAO! &it’s just awkward thoughh. Buuuut, I have learned that it is easier to get in touch with long lost family&friends through Facebook&MySpace because not everyone has your numberrr.. I really only have my MySpace still is because of my familyy. (The family that does not have a Facebook, of coursee.) I also go on to change my profile songg(which I believe Facebook should do..) Zuckerburg&his workers should definitely consider that. Not to imitate MySpace, but there are some people(like me) that loooove&adore music&would want it on their profilee. Also, Facebook is just addictingg. I do not play those games, but I do take the quizzes..
February 8th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I think my chose is Facebook. Hello its way better it may have came out after but its still better