Facebook is now twice the size of myspace | Hacker News Reader

Facebook is now twice the size of myspace

techcrunch.com

9 pointsvaksel14 comments

In related news, Facebook has now twice the debt as Myspace.

Those pageview numbers are astronomical, but I bet so are its bandwidth bills.

I shall now go check out my wall posts and not click on any ads.

Facebook has fewer songs, and it's not used primarily for music. I'd also guess MySpace has more video bandwidth, since it's accessed publicly unlike Facebook. They've also got more targeted ads - I've clicked some willingly - and I'd bet their code is sleeker than MySpace and less image-reliant.

I didn't say that Facebook took up more bandwidth than Myspace. I have no clue what its numbers are, and in fact that is beside the point.

Facebook is experiencing the most growth OUTSIDE the United States (although it will probably overtake Myspace this year in the US). This is a huge problem. Not only is bandwidth more expensive in other countries, but users are harder to target.

So basically you have users flocking to the site who don't pay and cost more. That's not exactly a great business model.

I want my karma point back.

What karma point? You specifically said that you thought their bandwidth was through the roof. I said that I thought chances were they were taking less bandwidth and making more on ads. (MySpace has a significant foreign userbase; I wouldn't presume that Facebook is any more globally skewed. If anything, quite the reverse.)

I think what he meant was that all of those overseas users suck up bandwidth for Facebook, costing them money, while returning very little. It's true. It's why, for example, apps on MySpace get much higher eCPM on offer pages.

Facebook is far more globally skewed than MySpace according to just about all of the stat estimates.

Huh! I didn't know that. I always assumed its focus on college would have kept it much more local.

Their plan of getting users to translate their site worked like gangbusters. They had first mover advantage in much of the world.

Also, I just don't think MySpace's anything-goes design (aesthetically and functionally) works anywhere else in the world.

What ads have you clicked? I get absolutely nothing but diet ads, 3-4 ads for different diets per page. My female friends report the same. My single male friends get nothing but dating site ads.

I get a lot of ads for Arrested Development shirts, The Wire boxed sets, and a lot of James Joyce-related stuff. Lebowski things pop up a lot too.

Me too! We must have similar profiles.

I'd friend you to find out if it wasn't against Facebook etiquette (is it? I think it is).

Yah, I just get Kaplan and Blackberry Ads. The usual I'm sure. My lack of profile information probably confuses their algorithms.

See, that's the problem: when the ad strategy is targeted ads, if you don't present anything to target you get nothing back. I'm certain you're in the minority of users if you're not presenting information.

There are sociological aspects to this phenomenon. I would hazard a guess that Facebook has gained significant older and recently web active members.

You don't pressure your mom and your aunt to join Myspace so that you can communicate with them more easily. Your less cyber savvy contacts who just don't text can easily deal with facebook.

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