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.'"

Comments

because its so yesterday

[grapeape]

My daughter actually told me that mySpace is for "old people and loosers" I guess they have all moved on to a new site that is more of the same but fits this weeks definition of cool and edgy. Nothing new here, remember being in college when it was cool to like a band until other people did...then they were sell outs regardless of whether the music changed or not.

Re:because its so yesterday

[nine-times]

That was my first thought when I saw the headline. I don't really talk to teenagers these days, so I don't know about MySpace, but some time ago I read about somebody's "theory of cool" (I can't remember where) that seemed pretty accurate. The idea is that there are stages that pretty much everything "cool" goes through, and it went something like this:

1. First it's underground. Practically nobody knows about it, but the people who know about it are the "cool kids".
2. The other kids start finding out about it, and it becomes generally known as "cool". By this time, most of the "cool kids" have actually already moved on to something else
3. It starts popping up in the mainstream, and then even the geeky kids know about it. The cool kids have already left, and most of the regular kids start leaving because the inclusion of geeky kids means it's not cool anymore.
4. Finally, when it hasn't been cool for months, parents, and older people in general, start figuring it out. It might appeal to them, or it might not, but this is the stage where your Grandpa tries to rap because he thinks it's funny.
5. Every now and then the whole things starts up again 10 or 20 years later when a new generation of cool kids take it up, and it becomes "retro".

I knew MySpace was heading in this direction, but there's one thing that might save it. Apparently it started out as a place for musicians and became a general social networking site, and as it has become less cool, it seems to be reverting to a place for musicians... And there it might continue to eek out enough profits to get by. But we all knew it wouldn't stay the cool place forever.

I've wondered, in fact, if this might become a new business model in the new internet economy. A "hit of the moment with planned obsolescence". It seems to me that everything cool dies off, and internet fads spike quickly and then degrade. The key might be that, instead of planning to continue growing at ridiculous speeds, these sites might figure out how to squeeze everything they can out of the spike, and then degrade gracefully, either without any great loss or, if they're lucky, to become a minor fixture on the net.

On the other hand, I guess there's no incentive to do that. From the point of view of the owners, it's better to sell during the spike for a ridiculously high price, and let someone else deal with trying to keep the growth rate up on the now "uncool" venture. First Napster, now MySpace, next up, YouTube.

Re:because its so yesterday

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Yes, the segregation of the children from the traditional family unit is certainly one of the most valuable modern tools in the arsenal of the profit-minded corporation. It rather puts one in mind of lions hunting herds across the savannah - seperate the weak and young, then feed on them...

Re:Or faking their age

[dfghjk]

It used to be that you had to say you were under 16 to make your page private. Now that you can control that separately, many people no longer need to pretend to be 14.

how does comscore gather the data ?

[Anonymous Coward]

via spyware of course

or as they call it researchware, just like HP board was researching its board members

Water "Cool" er

[6ame633k]

My co-workers and I use MySpace to blow off steam and chat while at work (of course we work in technology, go figure). I think people like us get together in small groups, we are not interested in having 5,000 anonymous friends - it's more like we are hanging out at the water cooler, but with the guise of sitting at your computer and getting some work done.

Old Age

[Noexit]

I guess I'm one of them. I put up a MySpace page a few months ago, trying to locate people for planning a 20th high school reunion. I've actually found more of my classmates at MySpace than at any other site on the 'net.

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, way to go the attack there buddy.

I'll address the obvious flaw in you post first. It seems you are comparing Myspace to written communication. I will absolutely agree that keeping in contact with old pals is one of the 'few' valid reasons for myspace. You will notice, or perhaps not, that I never said the was 'no' reason for thee social networking site, rather there are 'few' reasons.

Personally, for the people I bother to keep in touch with I do so via other means of communication, often email, snail mail, or (gasp) the telephone. Then again my definition of a 'friend' is not somebody who will click an 'approve' button on a web page, rather it is somebody who I actually care about and make an effort to have interaction with.

As for the first part of your post, WTF? You can't find a live person who shares enough of your interest to strike up a conversation. Shit, I live in a town with a population of 10,000 and I have met numerous people at the one coffeshop and the one bar in town. Do I find them all interesting and insightful, hell no, but some of them are great. I guess you would need to go out in public to a spot that may not cater to whatever your obsession is but hey, thems the breaks.

This is totally off topic but I fear that myspace etc... has caused many people to forget how to make real world friends. I worry about this shit. As the father of a 4 year old I have made a point to teach him how to interact with people, not computers. I would much rather he grow up to be able to walk up to a stranger and have a good conversation then be able to program in assembly any day.

As for the slashdot comment, I can't look at porn at work so.... I read slashdot, hey come to think of it this tookt me 10 minutes to type, I just made $8.50 responding to you.

Re:Huh?

[Mr. Underbridge]

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.

It didn't. It's the myspace part. It would be like a 40 year old guy wearing sunglasses and a trenchcoat to a Chuck E. Cheese. You just kind of assume.

Re:The Truth

[kniLnamiJ-neB]

Yeah really. I visited some friends' myspace pages and geez... it's like a competition with a prize given to the worst butt-rape of CSS. Fortunately Firefox's flashblock keeps me from having to deal with their poor taste in music :D