Pump up my Profile
Interactive sites contribute to online networking
By Dana Richter

E-communities have teens all over the United States glued to their computer screens.

Gina Gibson, a sixteen-year-old student from Rochester Mayo High School in Minnesota, spends nearly sixteen hours online a week.

Blogging sites like LiveJournal, Xanga, and Blogger.com offer little competition for the growing e-communities of MySpace and Facebook, likely because of the services the two sites offer.

“I mostly talk on AIM and visit MySpace and Facebook,” Gibson said. “I think (these sites are) a lot of fun for kids to keep in contact with kids from other schools, cities, even family members that live out of state.”

Since 2003, MySpace has offered its users lots of space for forums, blogs, and messages, as well as a place for photos.

“It’s your personal space everyone can look at,” said Kristy Stelter, a high school student from Fall Creek, Wisconsin.

Facebook, which came onto the scene in February 2005 is on the ball. Members can upload tons of photos and create their own albums.

MySpace takes it one step further, allowing users to display various photos of themselves and upload their own videos.

Unlike MySpace users, “Facebookers” can leave messages on someone’s personal “wall” and “poke” friends with a nonverbal message of, “Hey, I see you” or “Stop ignoring me!” Members also can join groups related to their common interests, their school or geography, according to the Web site.

Rising above: MySpace consistently ranks three times higher than Facebook in daily traffic and allows for customization through photos, pimped-out web pages, and music videos.	Photo by Kylene Vessel

Facebook also creates a social timeline for members and their friends. When someone is added as a friend, Facebook asks “How do you know this person?”

Creating a profile on Facebook is simple. Users find a template with fields to fill in with likes, dislikes, and memorable quotes.

MySpace is a little more complicated in some places. You may use HTML codes to change text and background colors or to organize your profile and site. Members have more creative control and the ability to mold MySpace to match your own personal flair.

“I can personalize it,” Stelter said.

Web sites like MySpaceDirect.com, are not affiliated with MySpace, but offer links to pre-made layouts, images, and pictures to add to your profile.

But services aren’t what attract students at Stelter’s school. Membership at e-communities is based on what’s popular with their friends.

“All of my friends have MySpace,” she said.

Eighteen-year-old Joe Meyer, also a Rochester Mayo student, said his girlfriend invited him to join MySpace.

Based solely on Web site hits, Facebook is seeded sixteenth in the country trailing behind MySpace, ranked fourth in the country, according to Alexa.com, a Web site that monitors the online traffic of other sites.

While Facebook lacks in popularity internationally, it excels in its growing number of members from schools around the country.

Becky Crane is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin–Superior and has used both sites. She once had a profile on MySpace, but now uses Facebook regularly.

“I like Facebook because it’s fun to have a place where you can talk to friends, see pictures, talk to people from different schools that you know, said Crane. “It helps to stay in contact.”

The only people who have accounts with Facebook, Crane said, are those who go to the high schools, colleges, and universities that have signed up to have access to the Facebook Web site.

Crane said Facebook makes it easier to talk to her classmates.

“If I need any help with homework or anything, rather than talking, I can just write them on Facebook and get help,” she said.

Access and membership limitations offer increased security as far as user identities and profiles. If someone wants to view a profile, but he or she doesn’t have a Facebook account or isn’t that person’s friend, that person is out of luck.

MySpace is a public Web site, and MySpace profiles can be accessed easily by searching the site itself, and through search engines like Yahoo! and Google. Everyone can see anyone’s profile, from their friends, the guy or girl they like, and even their classmates, co-workers or employers.

Even though Facebook limits who can see the profiles, users still need to take precautions with personal information.

Meyer follows the golden rule every kid knows. “Don’t talk to people you don’t know,” he said.

This prevents any undesirables from browsing through personal comments on individual’s walls, pictures of students and their friends, and their interests and favorites.

Gibson said she has never experienced any problems with safety. Regardless, she still recommends people should take precautionary measures on Web sites like MySpace and Facebook.

“I don’t give out any personal information at all. And [I] don’t accept friend requests from people I don’t know,” Gibson said.

Plans for changes to Facebook are taking shape. Newswires recently announced that Google may buy Facebook, resulting in a partnership that could offer a multitude of services to current and future Facebookers. MySpace will be the launch pad for Cingular’s Mobile Music Studio, an exclusive service that will allow bands from MySpace to create ring tones of their personally produced tunes.

The future is promising. MySpace and Facebook will continue to create new services and features from year to year. E-communities will continue to be a meeting place for teens.  

“I like writing to friends, seeing pictures, and staying in contact with long distance friends,” Crane said. “It’s a nice way to get connected with people from school and at home.”