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I think it is safe to say that if you are a living breathing human being, then you have definitely heard of the two most popular social hotspots on the web. Yes, I am talking about good ol’ Myspace and our new friend Facebook. Though they both seem to serve the same 3 purposes; 1-keeping people in cubicles awake, entertained, and off the job, 2-keeping kids up to date on eachothers’ internet drama, and 3-supplying the perfect romantic ambiance for love at first chat; these sites actually differ greatly. In my opinion Myspace and Facebook are as opposite as night and day. Funny, the terms night and day actually characterize the two sights pretty well…

Myspace seems like a dark world of strangers clumped together in no particular order. It has millions of users and tons of applications, but the way in which this all appears on your computer screen is quite cluttered and irritating if you ask me. From the moment you sign on to Myspace there are about 9 to 10 ads that consume your computer screen. “Go see this Movie”, “Sexy Shirts for Sale”, “Want the Perfect Horoscope” all invade your space as you try to check up on your messages, friends, and most importantly your profile.

And speaking of profiles…okay fine, it’s MY space so I can do whatever I want to my page…this is great for some people. But I don’t think everyone deserves this right! Yeah sure, I’d like to see your page and what you have to say…but do I have to sit through the 10 minutes it takes for your profile to load because you have 150 pictures with people that no one knows, a dizzyingly obnoxious background of your name falling every 2 seconds in little letter rain drops, 50 random top friends that have not bestowed you with the same honor, and worst of all the most annoying song selection in the world that fittingly suits the overall annoying vibe of your page? UGHH!! But, I digress. So yes, if clutter, creeps, and chaos are what you’re looking for in a social internetwork…then Myspace is the Queen of the Night.

As a slightly newer large scale website, Facebook is the light I found after emerging from the Myspace tunnel. The entire website is bright, simple, and easy to navigate. The advertisements are reduced to 2-3in. almost unnoticeable boxes on the border of the page and rarely do they even move let alone encapsulate and hold hostage your entire screen for 60 secs. No, Facebook is all about the users comfort. The sight utilizes great security features, and best of all, it truly functions as a network.

On Myspace random strangers message me and invade my profile wall at their own discretion, often plowing through my security settings. On facebook I can choose to only interact with the people within my specific networks. For example, Oakland High School, UC Berkeley, San Francisco, CA, and Wells Fargo may be your 4 networks. This means that, if you want, only people within these networks can contact you, making it much easier to weed out the undesirables prowling the web. Call me bourgeoisie, but I like the fact that Facebook started as a site to connect and entertain college students, and not just any and everybody. The entire feel of the website has an air of academia…you know, like it’s for people who know how to put a sentence together.

But as smart as Facebook is, it does not lack in its fun and senseless social attractions. From the moment you sign on to Facebook you see a list of the most recent activities of your friends and others in your network. ‘Who changed their picture’, ‘Who broke up with who’, and my personal favorite, ‘Who changed their status’. Now, for all the Facebook virgins out there, your status is the one sentence personal statement that lives at the top of your page for however long until you wish to change it. “Joe is thinking about what happened last night, is it really over?” might be at the top of your friends page one minute…and then 5 mins. later you’ll get an update saying, “Joe is over it, she wasn’t worth my time”. As weird as it may sound, I think it’s fun (in a nosy invasive kind of way) to be constantly updated on the personal status of the people in your network, rather than having to look at the superficial Myspace headlines like “Pimping is Easy”.

And Facebook profile pages are the best. They remind me of those acne free commercials, you know…”Clean, Clear, and Under Control”. No, but seriously, even though you can rotate the location of your wall, pictures, applications,etc. Facebook has a standard background and style that makes everyone’s page seem neat and uniform. You do not have to strain to read someones font or search for the mute button for the music on their page. But as simple as the profiles are to view and navigate, they are not at all boring. Just try the “Honesty Box” on for size.

The “Honesty Box” is a Facebook application that is one of my very own guilty pleasures. This box lives on your profile page and your friends can write anything they want in it. All you are able to see is their note and the sex of the person who sent it. This is a perfect way to tell secrets without revealing your identity, and also a way to see that you have some “friends” that might need to be reclassified as enemies.

But the best part of Facebook has to be the pictures. I swear I have almost 1000 pictures on my profile, all viewable at the click of a button in chronological order. A little narcissistic you say? Why of course, but aren’t we all? Even better, the coolest thing about the pictures is the “tag” feature.

Okay, so you know that one concert that you went to, and you got to go backstage and take a picture with that one celebrity, but you didn’t have space on your camera, so your friend snapped the pic for you? Yeah, well now you will actually get to see that photo…you know, instead of waiting the 3-6 months it takes for friends to remember to email pictures to you. When any of your friends uploads a picture on Facebook to their albums they are able to “tag” you to it, adding it to your pictures automatically. I never knew how many pictures I ended up in until Facebook. Luckily you are able to untag the pics that are, let’s say, less than flattering.

But either way it goes, the photo capabilities of Facebook, along with all its other fabulous features, leaves Myspace…well…in the dark.

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