Comments on: Is social all about cool? (Or why teens switch from MySpace)

By: Delta

Delta — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:49:05 +0000

If people leave myspace, its less about what’s cool and more about functionality. At one point, Community Connect was the kind of minority-interest social websites, owning Asian Avenue, Blackplanet and Migente. Each site was great in that you were able to interact with people of similar cultural backgrounds, and in the case of AA and MG, languages. But over time each site had its fair share of errors, and its search functions were a joke. By the time they fixed everything, it was too little too late. It even appeared as though they bumped the expanded the time which shows the number of users online to cover up the dwindling number of visits once Myspace took off. Myspace is functional, relatively speaking its search features blew away anything Community Connect had. Cool is cool, Myspace is king because of how easy it is to find people.

By: » From Bokardo - Is social all about cool? (Or why teens switch from MySpace) - My Web Design Blogs

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:56:33 +0000

[...] A recent Washington Post story titled In Teens’ Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year would have us believe that MySpace is a passing fad because of the group mentality of chasing cool. The story itself, however, then proves otherwise. There are concrete reasons why teens change their mind, and it’s not always about being […] Read more… [...]

By: Social problems need social design « Roz Web

Social problems need social design « Roz Web — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:11:08 +0000

[...] If the Google example was a stretch for you (e.g. you think the experience of your users doesn’t include how you’re represented by other sites), consider the example I wrote about yesterday: Is social all about cool? (Or why teens switch from MySpace). [...]

By: Eddie

Eddie — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:35:37 +0000

My “out of context” quote of the day is:

It’s easy to imagine teenagers as a pack of wildebeests on a grassy plain, simply running with wild abandon.

By: Web 2.0 Television » ‘Stickiness’ and beating attrition on social networking sites

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:20:30 +0000

[...] Joshua Porter on Bokardo writes about possible reasons for teens leaving MySpace (and by extension, other social networking sites). [...]

By: Pauric

Pauric — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 18:43:49 +0000

Large corporations need to have reliable and consistent revenue streams. Fox has cooked its golden goose by in part imposing the wrong restrictions on myspace with an aim to increase monetisation. Its not a stretch to see that social networks have relatively short organic shelf lives. Cultivating a social network takes a much defter hand than running a news organisation.

Designers have had trouble understanding the popularity of myspace, I think an analogy with our level of social networking might help here.

Like a good bar or restaurant, its all about atmosphere. You can design a good ambience, provide excellent content in comfortable settings but once you start telling your customers they’re not allowed bring their own favourite wine (and pay a cork fee) or that they will allow street traders in to peddle goods to you.. etc etc.. you’ve blown it.

Accept that your network wont be popular forever, let it grow organically and it will live a happier longer life.

On ‘MySpace use drops off considerably once teens go to college’ there is no reason for this to be so.

1)last time I checked, people were still producing more people.
2)Facebook proves that social network usage exists in college.

By: drdon

drdon — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:31:44 +0000

The teenage market more than any other is hugely driven by 1. peer pressure and 2. perception. These things can change on a dime. Last year, Roxy jeans were hip, this year it’s Lucky jeans, (or whatever). I think the mistake people make though is to equate social networks with brands such as jeans. There are some significant differences. Social networks are more like virtual hang-outs. You go there because that’s where your friends are. MySpace just happens to be where everyone is. This will probably last a while - certainly long enough for companies to leverage some marketing! Of course, MySpace use drops off considerably once teens go to college… The biggest problem with MySpace though is that like any online community, you can’t trust it. Unless you know the people personally you have to always remember that they may not be what they represent themselves as (in significant fundamental ways). So you stick with who you know - sort of.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:13:20 +0000

That’s a good way to put it, Pauric. A symptom and not a cause. Too often it’s treated as a cause, without any real digging into why people make the decisions they do.

By: Pauric

Pauric — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:37:17 +0000

It would seem to me that fickleness is a symptom not a cause. If a company has used this as a reason to explain a drop in usage then is goes to show how little they understand their customers.

Most teenagers have a desire to become independent, usually manfested as doing the opposite of what an authoritive figure asks.

Fox have made some fundamental mistakes such as the recent ban on uploading any copyright music (presumably a cross check on gracenotes) Its almost as if Fox wants to drive teenagers away.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 11:07:57 +0000

Michal, yes, that’s the point. It’s easy to imagine teenagers as a pack of wildebeests on a grassy plain, simply running with wild abandon.

I think this article actually shows that there is a depth to this…maybe cool is a big part of it but there’s more going on here than what’s momentarily in or out socially.

By: Fortune Teller - ZoltarHow funny - if Zoltar wouldn’t cost -- Centplus Tech

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 08:58:45 +0000

[...] Is social all about cool? (Or why teens switch from MySpace)There are concrete reasons why teens change their mind, and it s not always because it s cool to. Yuki Noguchi, explaining a recent downward trend in how much time teens spend on MySpace and other social networking sites, suggests that … [...]

By: Michal Migurski

Michal Migurski — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:37:44 +0000

In other words, things stop being cool for good reasons. Thanks for pointing this out, I was getting frustrated with the “fickle kids!” take on why MySpace is losing steam among teenagers. It’s weird to see companies that self-consciously use the language of flocks, flows, and diffusion to explain their success suddenly complain about fickleness the flock has moved on.

In contrast, my musician friends still use MySpace heavily and happily.