Myspace is a "digital ghetto". Users are "barely educated and obnoxious"

**twitchy2.0** · July 2nd, 2009, 03:04 PM

Facebook 'sparked white flight from MySpace' By staff writers

July 02, 2009 03:06pm

Migration ... Facebook users are reportedly white and wealthy while MySpace users are uneducated and obnoxious.

Whites 'flock to safer site'
MySpace users 'barely educated'
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A "WHITE flight" to Facebook has turned MySpace into a black ghetto, according to a social analyst in the US.

Danah Boyd said Facebook's arrival sparked a migration from MySpace of white users, the educated and the wealthy, while non-whites had stuck together on MySpace.

MySpace is owned by News Corp, the parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au.

"It wasn't just anyone who left MySpace to go to Facebook," Ms Boyd, who works with Microsoft Research New England, told a crowd at New York's Democracy Forum.

"We might as well face an uncomfortable reality ... what happened was modern day 'white flight'."

Ms Boyd said MySpace had become a digital "ghetto".

"The people there are more likely to be brown or black and to have a set of values that terrifies white society," she said.

Her interviews with American teenagers since 2006 showed that online migration mimicked the patterns of class groups' movements across cities.

Farcebook of Perth

All "social" sites are just leeching on peoples' insecurities and the need to belong or to cling to something. Make them feel better if they have 2000 Facebook friends...

She found teens who preferred Facebook were far more likely to talk down to those who use MySpace than vice versa.

Ms Boyd said her research showed high school students found Facebook "more cultured" and "less cheesy" than MySpace.

"Any high school student who has a Facebook page will tell you MySpace users are more likely to be barely educated and obnoxious," she said.

Ms Boyd also warned that the class divisions on social sites will harden over time.

"Their decision to (move to Facebook) was wrapped up in their connections to others, in their belief that a more peaceful, quiet, less-public space would be more idyllic."
Facebook 'sparked white flight from MySpace' | News | News.com.au

**lurkur** · July 2nd, 2009, 03:09 PM

Facebook started out available only to colleges and stuff, right? You had to have a campus e-mail to register, I thought, so of course the "non-educated" would be barred. They opened it up later, but the foundations always affect the building on top. That also barred young kids from joining, and that makes a difference with spelling and coherence.

**twitchy2.0** · July 2nd, 2009, 03:12 PM

I can't believe that the article drags race into it though. It's like I'm reading some sort of parody.

**sputnik** · July 2nd, 2009, 03:18 PM

^^^^
yeah, i don't see that either. but i do think there is definitely a difference in education level.
i like facebook much better. i always hated myspace. i really don't care if that supposedly makes me a snob.

**Penny Lane** · July 2nd, 2009, 03:49 PM

Right out of high school I made the full-time switch to Facebook.. it felt more grown up and exclusive.. I had to have a school email to join my university network and had greater control over my profile. Since then it's gone through three facelifts and now anyone can join... I have people my mom went to high school with friend requesting me... it's creepy. Myspace and Facebook have kind of become reflections of each other.

**memebot** · July 2nd, 2009, 06:00 PM

Myspace made my eyes bleed with all the custom pages and their unreadable fonts, eye assaulting colors, and flashing gifs. I bailed because I'm too old for that obnoxious shit.

**Grimmlok** · July 2nd, 2009, 09:28 PM

i couldnt stand the automatic shitty music people would embed

**Penny Lane** · July 2nd, 2009, 10:41 PM

The glitter comments were the most annoying to me. No, I don't need a glittery, animated picture of a rose with "Just wanted to say hi" written in glittery cursive font in my comments, thanks.

**Sylkyn** · July 3rd, 2009, 08:43 AM

I joined FB only because many of my friends did. I don't like it much at all. Too many silly little apps, the chat thingy is dreadful, laggy and glitchy. Now the stupid update thing is double posting.

I use MySpace only because my kids (and a few other friends) are there, and I am a lot more used to it. I don't have any apps, I damn sure don't embed music (or vids anymore) and it just seems to "work" better for me.

I don't LOVE either of them. Of course, I still check on twitter for seeing what the celebs are yacking about, so to me, twitter is far more interesting!

**Witchywoman** · September 6th, 2009, 07:38 PM

I LOVE myspace and hate FB. FB is a bore and nothing slows ur puter down faster than all those apps. I'm a visual and creative person. I have meant wonderful ppl on myspace. You attract what you are. Whether they are black, brown or pink I love them. So many beautiful and inspiring pages. Loving ppl and helpful souls. I have so much fun there as well.

**Grimmlok** · September 7th, 2009, 01:34 AM

im guessing lots of cats..

**sputnik** · September 7th, 2009, 08:54 AM

**heart_leigh** · September 7th, 2009, 11:13 AM

I have a myspace account I haven't accessed in over a year.

When I think of myspace, I think of Tila Tequila and how huge she was over there as the myspace queen.

**Cali** · September 7th, 2009, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by lurkur

Facebook started out available only to colleges and stuff, right? You had to have a campus e-mail to register, I thought, so of course the "non-educated" would be barred. They opened it up later, but the foundations always affect the building on top. That also barred young kids from joining, and that makes a difference with spelling and coherence.

Exactly. I just switched over because all my professional contacts were on there. So to a degree, this 'study' was biased from the start because the group is self-selecting.

FB it does seem more legit because, at least at first, you were more able to verify that people really were who they claimed to be. And you couldn't have a secret handle as your user name. Plus there's less spam on there and more privacy.