Myspace in the UK

After posting all over the place on my friends blogs I thought it was about time that I got one of my own - and in my support of one of the first free pieces of blog software I am using blogger (but I may upgrade to my own domain name soon). I am not completely sure of the layout yet, but I'm sure that will come with time.

My research focuses on the use of social networking technologies in everyday interactions. I am working from a social psychological perspective, so of course, I am immediately interested in core issues of community and identity. I am try to incorporate a range of technological insights into my understanding of online communities and this has led me to currently be interested in blogging in Myspace. Alongside the methodological argument I will be presenting at AoIR in October, I am keen to keep studying in the fluid social landscape of Myspace interaction. The popularity of other social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) has caused a decline in academic Myspace interest. Although, Myspace in the UK still acts as a formidable source of social networking as Myspace has surpassed 10m users in the UK per month. This is a staggering figure and even though many will be using facebook and bebo, it seems that users still find time to 'catch up' on their Myspace profiles. This encourages the idea that Myspace and Facebook fulfill different social roles in terms of interactional practices. Many of the profiles that exist on Facebook map directly to real life (RL), but Myspace seems freeer to expolre alternative identities that are more difficult to maintain in Facebook.

However, the article publicises that this Myspace popularity is going to be relatively short lived and the increase use of Facebook is beginning to show. In a cultural climate that is perpetually concerned with the privacy issues there are some obvious advantages of Facebook compared to Myspace. The sheer amount of users of Myspace shows that it is not ready to welcome the sea of change just yet and this leave the interesting social question of what people get out of Myspace that they do not from Facebook? Methodologically this could be an interesting case for studying discourse and the different ways the landscape is organised.

More to come later...