[Update: New November stats available here]
This is a continuation of my look at social networks and their populations from a marketing perspective. When it comes to this arena Facebook has most of the buzz, but MySpace still has the volume. As strategic counselors to our clients, it is important to make qualified decisions about the vehicles we use as part of a campaign.
MySpace has become the red headed step child of the social media world as Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn have continued to gain popularity and support. But, what does MySpace really look like and how does it compare?
I was able to pull comparison numbers for the age of both networks and some interesting patterns emerged. Take a look at the following graph that shows MySpace in blue and Facebook in red.
The age of MySpace vs. Facebook (US)
Click to enlarge image.
MySpace has more people in every segment (nearly double across the board), but a couple points stand out:
- The 13-17 age group on MySpace is four and a half times larger than that of Facebook.
- Every age range between 18 and 50 is close to double on MySpace what it is on Facebook.
- The 50+ group on MySpace is 10 times larger than on Facebook, that is a 1000% difference.
- The 50+ age group on MySpace is nearly one quarter the size of the entire Facebook community.
Here are the actual numbers:
| age range | MySpace | variance | |
| 13-17 | 4,943,960 | 22,618,106 | 457% |
| 18-21 | 9,957,600 | 20,326,180 | 204% |
| 22-25 | 6,833,380 | 13,029,345 | 191% |
| 26-30 | 4,282,200 | 10,528,581 | 246% |
| 31-35 | 2,402,720 | 4,958,016 | 206% |
| 36-40 | 1,503,640 | 2,843,813 | 189% |
| 41-45 | 727,880 | 1,577,310 | 217% |
| 46-50 | 473,240 | 981,911 | 207% |
| 65+ | 703,020 | 7,030,912 | 1000% |
Takeaways and questions:
- These numbers represent all total users, not active users so take it with a grain of salt.
- I don't have growth numbers on MySpace so it's tough to gauge its vitality at this point.
- MySpace has a huge number of Boomers in their community. I will watch this demographic in coming months.
- MySpace skews younger than Facebook, engaging more of the highschool population.
- Populations between MySpace and Facebook (18-50) mirror each other in terms of population trends.
- Both sites offer ad targeting
What do you think? Are you still considering MySpace for campaigns? The demographics and targeting options let you reach people in tailored ways. I do think that the marketing options on MySpace are very limited and that's one hesitation that I have personally.
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advertising, Facebook, LinkedIn, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, strategy, Techno//Marketer, Twitter
