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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.'"
More predators, less victims.
Thus proving:
Myspace: For 14 year old girls and the 40 year old men that love them
(don't know where i heard this , so i don't take credit)
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Supposedly, this company has some method of telling the age of a person based on their MySpace profile. I'm guessing it involves voodoo.
Or maybe they just assume that everyone who likes Norwegian black metal is 14 years old, everyone who likes Neil Diamond is 57, and everyone else is 39.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
via spyware of course
or as they call it researchware, just like HP board was researching its board members
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
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
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.
You had me at merlot
Tom had no comment other than to say that he's your friend.
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
This can only mean one thing: MySpace users are aging at a faster rate than the rest of us.
We should look into this. Is there something about ugly HTML that increases the human rate of aging? This really demands further study.
Read my blog.
I'll give you a damn good reason to be on a virtual community (e.g., you're on Slashdot right now) instead of striking a conversation with your good neighbour Jack Random: common interests. E.g., I'd rather talk or read a post about computers, history, or cats, than listen to the local drone go on and on about football (soccer) and cars.
Frankly, most conversations born out of sheer geographical proximity are fucking boring. There's a whole class of topics that really interest noone that much, like sports or the weather, that exist only as the lowest common denominator for talks between perfect strangers. ("Say, it's cloudy today." Yes, I noticed it, I'm not fucking blind.)
And people who devote a disproportionate amount of their time just to stay on top of such common denominator topics. E.g., sports. There are plenty of people whose only real interest in sports and in following the prowess of a give team, whether they consciously realize it or not, is only really to seem to belong to the local group of Tom, Dick and Harry who seem interested in that team. Bonus points if it's just groupthink, and deep down inside, Tom, Dick and Harry aren't in it for any other reason either.
Me, I'd rather find someone and some topic more interesting than that. On the Internet if that's what it takes.
I'll give you a second one: to stay in touch with old pals. People occasionally do have to move.
Plus, it's not even something new, and you only need to look at history to see how bogus that argument is. The same could be said for snail mail letters, for example. Here, lemme rephrase it for you: "Also, there are few reason for these letters. The whole point of them is to meet people you will never actually meet. Want some social interaction. Try striking up a conversation with somebody, that alwasy seesm to work well for me."
And yet, ever since someone inventing writing on a stone or clay tablet, people have used them to communicate with other people, some they'll likely never meet in person. All sorts of people, including philosophers, novelists, playwrights, statesmen, etc, yes, have often enough preferred to spend an evening writing a letter to an old friend or to someone with similar interests, instead of just going out and striking a random conversation about the weather. For the most famous ones you can even go to the local book store or library and buy a a book or three with transcripts of their correspondence. Those alone would make a nice mountain of evidence that people occasionally do want to socialize with someone more interesting than the locally available Joe and Jane Random. Go figure.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
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.
Never argue with a man carrying a water buffalo
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).
..think of the adults!!
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
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 ...
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.
What is the size of the 55+ group?
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
It seems that the Foleygate scandal has the Republican House leadership in such disarray that they're having problems staying on the same Page.
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
...isn't cool anymore? Just because I'm a 40+ year old white guy who raps an obscene, extended version of "The Ballad of the Beverly Hillbillies" explaining in detail the relationship between Ellie Mae and all those animals and thinks I'm being funny while I do it, we've reached the point where rap isn't cool?
Damn it all to hell.
I worked hard on that song. A couple of drunk crowds at comedy clubs have loved at it. I guess now I'll have to ditch it from the act.
Damn.
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.