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Youths No Longer Predominant on MySpace
mikesd81 writes "The Associated Press is reporting on the rapid aging of MySpace. More than half of MySpace's users are now 35 or older. From the article: 'Just a year ago, teens under 18 made up about 25 percent of MySpace, the popular online hangout run by News Corp. That's now down to 12 percent in the comScore analysis released Thursday. By contrast, the 35-54 group at MySpace grew to 41 percent in August, from 32 percent a year earlier ... The study was based on comScore's regular panels for measuring Internet audiences, rather than MySpace's registration information, where users often lie about their age.'"
So its based off of some other system where users lie about their age rather then myspace's? Wonderful! It must be accurate then!
I'm pretty sure the large number of teanie boppers that register as 99 years old to avoid stalkers, creeps, and weirdos may have thrown the statistics off just a little bit. And then you have the crowd that thinks it's funny to be "69" years old. Although, the article is correct when it states that the user base is getting older. I'm surprised to find out how many older coworkers have myspace accounts now. It's definately hitting critical mass as a cultural phenomenon.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Certainly if it were based off of current listed ages in Myspace, the vast majority of users would be 90-100 yrs old and closely followed by 14 and 15 yr olds*.
The former are usually the actual 14 and 15 yr olds, lying about their age to not have a private profile. And the later of the above are often the older audience lying about their age to HAVE a private profile. Many of which don't realize anyone can choose to be private now (previously only underage users).
Go figure.
* this does not include Music accounts - which are by default, over 100 yrs old.
They are starting to realize it's uselessness and dangers.
Comeon. Give me a break...as annoying as a lot of myspace users may be the service sure isn't useless, and it's only as dangerous as the user will allow it to be. It *is* a good way to stay in touch and find people you may have been friends wtih in the past but don't have any other means of communication between...and being in a band (I am) you cannot do *anything* anymore without a myspace account. It's very very handy to promote directly to people that want to know about you, provided you don't just blanket add everyone you can. Used correctly Myspace is a very good tool for a number of things.
adventure-today.com
So, let me see if I understand the way this thread is running:
Kid's hanging out of MySpace are just being kids, but middle aged adults are predetors and/or lying about their age? is that about right?
What is this, the modern interpretation of "never trust anyone over 30 years old"? Some us "old timers" still enjoy meeting new people from time to time.
When I initially saw the article I thought, "cool, people my age, maybe I'll set up an account". This thread has been kinda depressing.
Maybe....just maybe...the notion of networking with people across the internet is becoming a more mainstream idea. This is kind of reminiscent of an old gopher site called "occ" which I used to use for job hunting. Nowadays, it's a web site called "Monster", and one of serveral such sites. Like many others, I maintain an online resume as a matter of course.
It could be that social networking sites are evolving to the same level.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Huh? Excuse me? Since where did 35+ become synonimous with paedophile?
It may be hard to comprehend for someone whose world revolves around a computer in a basement, but most humans are _social_ beings. Yes, I know, mind boggles. There are plenty of reasons for people, even aged 35+, to interact with other people in a real or virtual community, that _don't_ involve looking for 13 year olds to fuck. Like, you know, interacting with other 35+ people.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
It's a fact: If you want your child to stay away from something, simply embrace it. Don't want them listening to rap, tell them you and all your friends love that new CD. Don't like the way they wear their clothes? Call them "G" and tell them they need to wear their pants down lower. Don't want them on MySpace? Tell them everyone at the office is doing it and you signed up, too. Ask them to be in your "family photo" to go ON MySpace.
Nothing freaks out a kid like thinking they might agree with their parents about what is cool.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Well, I think its quite possible that the raw uglyness of Myspace pages caught up with people.
I think I've been to myspace maybe half a dozen times in total. I find the layout of most pages visually offensive. Useless sensory overload.
Teens look for a community of their own. They find one, build it, make it good, then the corporations move in to make money off of it. That lasts for a while, then the corporations eventually destroy it. Good example: Rap. I could come up with more.
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I'm not sure why anyone over 35, or even over 25 for that matter would have a myspace page anymore, as nearly every employer, at least here in NYC will check your emaill adress for a myspace page. I understand that there is nothing inherently wrong with a page,there may be something on your page or a friends that an employer finds unavory. I have personally not hired someone because they mentioned using drugs on their page. Most employers are much more conservative than I am, especially the corps. Sad but true.
Et In Arcadia Ego
Same reason one of the other posters in this thread made it sound like being in Congress is synomimous with paedophile. Because the media doesn't know how to report news anymore, and so instead they re-run the same stories over and over again until a stereotype is created against certain groups of people.
I agree with the parent, but the idea of MySpace being a tool and not just the latest teen social fad goes much bigger than just being a band advertisement. Now we are seeing movies and TV shows using MySpace for marketing purposes as well. And these are not independent movies or public access shows either, these are Hollywood blockbusters and network television shows. Now I don't have a MySpace account and I am not familiar with their usage agreement (if there is one), but if I understand this correctly, these movies, bands, tv shows all have FREE webspace that is practically pre-designed (so very little effort goes into the creation) and they have a vast network of people to advertise to and also measure things like buzz and hype associated with the product. How soon until we start seeing other consumer products with their own MySpace pages? Anyone else want to be Microsoft Windows Vista's "friend"?
"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
how ? via spying on you
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http://www.google.com/search?q=marketscore+spywar
Except your method just makes you into a looser and an ass in your childs' eyes.
Dont listen to this guy, your kids will see right through it. He is right in one respect though - teens want their own area in which to interact. You keep following them to all their places, whether online or in real life, and they'll keep looking for new places.
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There's not that many teenagers online in North America (sure, there's some from Europe and other places, but the vast majority are American and Canadian).
Interesting. It seems to me that YouTube is already between #3 and #4. Where are the cool kids now?
I also wonder how many of those older my-spacers are the parents of the teenagers with accounts used basically to spy on their kids.I'm pretty sure the large number of teanie boppers that register as 99 years old to avoid stalkers, creeps, and weirdos may have thrown the statistics off just a little bit.
Remember, girls, if you try to project a highly sexual image to the world, that only teenaged boys will look and be interested. Anybody over 20 who's attention you catch is a "stalker, creep, and weirdo".
This idea's pretty weird, yet millions of kids seem to believe it ...
Except your method just makes you into a looser and an ass in your childs' eyes.
You obviously don't have kids. In 95% of situations, you ARE a loser in your kid's eyes when they are 12 to 20. They rebel, they want to disassociate and they are prepetually embarrased by everything you do, even if you don't deserve it. It is called being a teenager.
The key isn't to embrace everything they love, it is to embrace everything that they love and you want them to stay away from.
Except in this case there is nothing about MySpace that says "kids only site". We're not talking about adults on some kindergarten's "I like ponies" chatroom (though even there they might have legitimate reasons to be, like making sure what their own kid could see there), we're talking about adults on a site that always had adult profiles too. It was never marketted as a teen-only site, it never had any mention of being a teen-only site, etc. So exactly _what_ warning signs would an adult have to tell them "it's a kid only place, they'll look funny at you if you go there"?
All you have there is some "omg, there are pedos on MySpace" media scare (and even there it's been only a couple of cases), and from there a bunch of people basically seem to extrapolate that everyone else there must be one. Which is a classic extrapolation fallacy, of the kind that goes "cats are mammals, hence all mammals are cats."
Or to put it otherwise, it's as illogical as reading that there was a rape in the central park, and from there assuming that every single male in the central park must be a rapist looking for a victim. Or that there are fraudsters on Ebay, hence everyone using Ebay must be looking for someone to scam. Etc.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Firstly, please accept this free advice: when reading Slashdot, imagine every comment spoken with a sarcastic sneer. Now add salt. In this case, high sodium is beneficial to your health.
Secondly, just because Slashdotters joke about MySpace (often these jokes are in poor taste, I agree) or have opinions about MySpace does not mean they are uninformed.
Thirdly, the assumption that Slashdotters are "stupid Americans" because they do not share your opinion of MySpace is irrational.
Matters of fact: MySpace runs on a server-side scripting language few Slashdotters have any respect for (ColdFusion), MySpace pages are often unreadable due to user customization (example: black text on dark background, not a fault of MySpace), few MySpace pages satisfy W3C standards (something Blogger Beta also has problems with currently), MySpace is owned by News Corporation (the world's biggest source of misinformation), open-ended customization options leave MySpace vulnerable to social engineering tactics that can lead to end-user installation of malware. Most importantly: MySpace is not the only "social networking" site; for example: Slashdot (to a certain extent).
Please do not assume this to be an excuse or argument. It is not. It is an explanation. Why do Slashdotters have a low opinion of MySpace? The above list.
Currently, my Blogger Beta site is experiencing many of the same issues (for example, I prefer XHTML 1.1 which does not allow for iframes) and I do not claim to have a perfect solution. I simply ask you to remember that criticisms of MySpace are not criticisms of social networking (any more than criticisms of certain politicians are criticisms of democracy). Something better will come along.