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 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.