Julian Lee
MySpace, the website that redefined the meaning of friends in cyberspace, is showing signs of fatigue, with latest figures indicating that Australians - or at least hip ones - are deserting it for rival Facebook.
Although one in three Australians visiting social networking websites still go to MySpace, its market share has dropped by 5 percentage points. Facebook, meanwhile, has increased its share threefold in the 10 weeks to October 13, according to figures from Hitwise, the company that monitors internet traffic.
Visits to all social networking websites have more than doubled in that period.
The reason for MySpace's drop in share could lie in the survey's most startling finding - that mums and dads keen to ride on the social networking wave are turning to MySpace. "The people that tend to go there now are more like middle Australia," said Tessa Court, Hitwise's head of marketing.
"MySpace has become the default. If you want to get involved in social networking, then you go to MySpace."
Facebook is becoming increasingly trendy, Ms Court said. "It's where more of the thought leaders and influentials go."
Hitwise's analysis shows the desertion from MySpace to Facebook, as well as other websites, is more pronounced in Australia than in the US or Britain.
Launched in 2004, MySpace allowed younger internet users to express their individuality by creating profiles. They were then able to link to other sites and create a network of friends. It quickly became the most popular hangout for teenagers on the web, so much so that Rupert Murdoch stunned the media industry in 2005 when he paid $US580 million for the company as a way of reaching a group that advertisers had found hard to reach.
Rebekah Horne, general manager of MySpace, dismissed the results saying that more pages were read on MySpace than any other site in Australia and that rising membership figures - it now has 4.2 million members - proved it was just as popular as ever. "It's swings and roundabouts. It's probably going to go up next week."
Sphere: Related Content
MySpace, the website that redefined the meaning of friends in cyberspace, is showing signs of fatigue, with latest figures indicating that Australians - or at least hip ones - are deserting it for rival Facebook.
Although one in three Australians visiting social networking websites still go to MySpace, its market share has dropped by 5 percentage points. Facebook, meanwhile, has increased its share threefold in the 10 weeks to October 13, according to figures from Hitwise, the company that monitors internet traffic.
Visits to all social networking websites have more than doubled in that period.
The reason for MySpace's drop in share could lie in the survey's most startling finding - that mums and dads keen to ride on the social networking wave are turning to MySpace. "The people that tend to go there now are more like middle Australia," said Tessa Court, Hitwise's head of marketing.
"MySpace has become the default. If you want to get involved in social networking, then you go to MySpace."
Facebook is becoming increasingly trendy, Ms Court said. "It's where more of the thought leaders and influentials go."
Hitwise's analysis shows the desertion from MySpace to Facebook, as well as other websites, is more pronounced in Australia than in the US or Britain.
Launched in 2004, MySpace allowed younger internet users to express their individuality by creating profiles. They were then able to link to other sites and create a network of friends. It quickly became the most popular hangout for teenagers on the web, so much so that Rupert Murdoch stunned the media industry in 2005 when he paid $US580 million for the company as a way of reaching a group that advertisers had found hard to reach.
Rebekah Horne, general manager of MySpace, dismissed the results saying that more pages were read on MySpace than any other site in Australia and that rising membership figures - it now has 4.2 million members - proved it was just as popular as ever. "It's swings and roundabouts. It's probably going to go up next week."
