Social Networking Journal

MySpace Demographics Changing

It’s easy to think that Facebook has been badly whipping MySpace for some time, but is there any truth to the idea that a wholesale mass exodus has begun? MySpace, the king of slow pageloads and annoying background music is clearly losing members, but the numbers aren’t as cut and dry as you might initially guess.

But what’s happening looks more like an online demographic shift than impending doom. MySpace — at least for the time being — continues to be the best way to reach teenagers and young adults. As you can see from the Hitwise table, above, MySpace has actually grown one percent among users ages 18 to 24. The sharpest drop-off has been in older demographics. Facebook has already self-reported extensive growth among those older than 30. Likely as a result of that growth, the proportion of its users ages 18 to 24 has actually fallen 27 percent, from comprising 40.14 percent of its site to 29.22 percent. Specifically, Facebook has previously said that one of it’s largest growth areas is among women over 55.

Having used both websites, it’s easy to image why this shift is happening. MySpace has a much more chaotic design and has always been the home to music fans. Facebook is a bit cleaner and more corporate.

For now it looks like MySpace has maintained their hold with a certain demographic.