The evolution of MySpace, Facebook, and me.

One of my favorite reads, social media guru Chris Brogan recently had a post on how not to be a jerk on Facebook, in which he pointed out some annoying, yet sadly too common, faux pas that many folks do on the social media site. He asked his readers for their take on Facebook netiquette, both the “to-dos” and the “what-not-to-dos” and the responses in the comments were intesting and varied.

Reading his post and the responses got me thinking about the (relatively short) history of social media networks, mainly what can arguably be considered the Big Two–MySpace and Facebook–and their evolution over the years. (Obviously, there are others on the block that could now be considered “big kids,” but let’s be honest with ourselves–most people in the real, 3D world still think of MySpace and Facebook like the Coke and Pepsi of social networks.*)

I got thinking about my own personal history with these two Big Kids, and I made some observations:

1. I was there “in the beginning” of both
2. I’ve watched them evolve over time
3. I’ve watched myself evolve and adapt as a user of each network
4. That makes me feel really old.

I’ve been a member of Facebook since way back when it was only for college students. Since then, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it.

When it was college students only, I used it mainly to keep up with my friends that didn’t go to the same school as me. In fact, I had (and still have) more friends at other schools than my own. My logic is/was that I see the people in my classes more than I want to each week, I don’t want to have to deal with them online as well.

Then MySpace took off … I joined when it was so new you were only allowed eight “top friends” and I don’t even think you could decide who was in your “Top Eight” yet. (Maybe you could; I’m blaming this premature “senior moment” on #4.) Facebook got annoying with all the stupid invites I was getting for joining the zombie/vampire/pirate/etc. game and [insert stupid app here] that I pretty much abandoned it and was, for the most part, exclusively MySpace. That, and most of my friends are musicians and MySpace has been the indie musician’s saving grace.

Somewhere along the lines, Facebook opened up to the public and MySpace opened up to third party apps and it seemed as though the circle had become complete.

Only it wasn’t.

MySpace became the online equivalent of the bulletin board full of random crap at the grocery store that every time I walked past, thought, “Damn, that’s an eyesore, do people even look at that? Sorry about your lost cat, but the flier gets buried amongst the hodgepodge of what looks like an exploded piñata.” Meanwhile, Facebook instilled that “ignore” button for the annoying apps and slowly won me back.

Today, I use Facebook for both personal and professional purposes, and I recognize that today the line is blurred no matter how hard you try to separate them. That’s the truth–deal with it. The rule I try to live by is “don’t put anything online you wouldn’t want your mother to see.”

I will probably get ridiculed for saying this, but I strongly feel that MySpace is the new AOL. I’ve even gone so far as to make that my long-standing status message there. The scarlet letter of amateurism, of n00bism, if you will. I don’t care if you’ve been online since IRC, if you use MySpace as your main hub, I will laugh at you and judge you. (That is, unless you’re a musician/in a band, in that case it’s great, as I already stated.)

Am I sounding elitist? Perhaps to some, but last summer when I heard a room full of teenagers talk about how “MySpace is for babies” and “nobody will ever take you seriously if that’s your main online hangout,” I decided I needed to seriously reexamine my online habits and those of my peers, whether friends or “friends.” And I realized my inclinations, suddenly validated by teenagers of all people (smart ones, at that), were right–MySpace is past its prime, and those non-musicians who are on it more than anywhere else online are the equivalent of AOL’ers like your Aunt Mabel still spamming you with forwards. It had its moment in the sun, and now it’s like the bad penny that won’t go away.

About once or twice a week I peek back into MySpace just to see if my friends’ bands are playing anywhere locally, and I take note of the other I see activity going on. I notice every time that the same annoying people are still doing annoying things, like wasting their time posting ridiculous “surveys” like anyone cares, posting poorly-written, barely coherent blogs and then posting poorly-written, barely coherent bulletins plugging said blogs, leaving stupid sparkly (or otherwise gaudy) comments on others’ profiles, and basically perpetuating my metaphor of the junky-looking corkboard at the grocery store.

I guess that’s not a bad thing, though. If that’s where the most annoying people (to me, anyway) online are congregating, and they’re happy there, they will stay there and leave me the hell alone. Too bad real life isn’t more like MySpace.

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