Did 'White Flight' Doom The 'Digital Ghetto' Of MySpace?

technologyreview.com:

A new analysis by Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd argues that Facebook's success is due in part to "white flight" from MySpace.

Read the whole story: technologyreview.com

Comments

[SheaSF]

04:11 PM on 07/16/2010

Hated MySpace because of the rediculous ads covering half the page. Left when Rupert Murdock bought it. That simple.

[Super Fly Fly]

12:48 PM on 07/16/2010

This article is ridiculous and is a clear example of what is wrong with America. This lady obviously doesn't know the history of facebook. Facebook was at first only open to University students starting at one of the most elite colleges in the country. As it expanded from there it was still only open to college kids and then it became open to employees of some of the bigger companies in the country. Once it opened on mass everyone just simply flocked to the new it thing on the internet just like everyone has flocked to twitter now. Myspace lost its way because every promoter with anything to sell spammed it to death. Thus, killing myspace! However, the same thing is happening now with facebook too. Promoters of clubs etc have found their way there and the spam is at epic levels now. All of this has nothing to do with race. People are just into the new thing regardless of race and also internet spam is annoying lol.

Oh and anyone who thinks the internet is a safe haven from racism need only visit any video with a person of color on youtube and scroll down to the comments section. Because of the faceless nature of the internet racist have been empowered to spew their ignorance at every turn.

[muahaha]

08:44 AM on 07/16/2010

Neither MySpace nor Facebook asks for race, so, how do they know the racial profile of those leaving MySpace without intentionally searching into it? Which, if true, sounds to me like a waste of time and a form of race-baiting---by trying to find racial motives behind the stupidest crap.

[Lordcron]

07:27 AM on 07/16/2010

So I may no longer be a teenager and the internet itself wasn't around when I was a teen (the 80's) but, when I use the internet I use it to catch up with old friends and set times to hang out with them and meet up in certain places. That's what facebook and myspace is for really.

Call me old fashioned but I never thought of moving where I am in the digital world based on race. Then again I'm also not white with a superior complex ether. Hmmm. Interesting.....

[TruthHasSpoken]

12:49 AM on 07/16/2010

How you can connect something so simple as teens leaving a social networking site to white flight is hilarious. I tried to see it in the data but it seems this research trying too hard to interpret believes instead of reading what the data was really showing. Facebook prior to 2006 only allowed college students, once you get to college everyone uses it. After 2006, it started letting everyone. At that point it was popular to college students so you can say certain minority groups weren't in that niche because of socioeconomic situations. However, myspace never started loosing users until late 08 when there was this big thing about predators, bullies if you remember. What did minorities have to do with predators? Then there were the spammers, not to mention music. By the way, all this the data showed in the research. Can media stop making everything about race. This kind of research from Microsoft doesn't surprise me why they ve lost so much market share.

[muahaha]

12:21 AM on 07/16/2010

MySpace got way too cluttered and started reminding me of a bunch of eighth graders with all the apps like super-poke, kiss me, etc.
And Facebook is driving me crazy because I can't get out of Farmville and people keep sending me Farmville gifts.

[HBHB]

11:49 PM on 07/15/2010

I stopped using it because I got about 10 fake messages from spammers everyday.

[Matthew Harrold]

11:23 PM on 07/15/2010

Personally I left because facebook was more organic, and had a lot less clutter. Although that seems to be changing now. To be honest I can see this happening again as people grow tired of people being spammed with Farmville "Help me" notes, or pointless updates of pages they liked.

[JamesAndre]

10:58 PM on 07/15/2010

Did 'White Flight' Doom The 'Digital Ghetto' Of MySpace?

No, Murdoch did.

[rostov007]

09:19 PM on 07/15/2010

Wasn't "White Flight" a late-night show on VH1 in the 90's?

[sk8queen]

07:56 PM on 07/15/2010

I'm Black and I beat them off myspace. Myspace's format was simply wack. Facebook is more spontaneous and interactive. Myspace was similar to the old bulletin board sites we used to have to use before the internet got really going...

[Lordcron]

07:30 AM on 07/16/2010

I see you may be my age! LOL! Fanned!

[JasonMcl]

06:05 PM on 07/15/2010

This is the worst article I've read in months. Why am I not terribly surprised to see it come from Microsoft?

To even attempt to acknowledge this is take a step backwards in time. Why not go the extra mile and post drinking fountains in the title image?

Suggesting in any way that the insipid world of social media could somehow become stratified based on income and class when it costs absolutely nothing to use is so blatantly ridiculous it makes me want to throw something. Namely a rock at the author.

[Mortis]

12:27 AM on 07/16/2010

Hear hear...

[Lordcron]

07:34 AM on 07/16/2010

Thank you and fanned! I personally know a lot of my friends and I left myspace because it was just an old formatted outdated service. It had nothing to do with race.

[MaxPowerXP]

05:58 PM on 07/15/2010

If by "White Flight" you mean "MySpace allowed user pages to become the Geocities of the 21st Century", then yes

[JasonMcl]

09:22 AM on 07/16/2010

Geocities, a name that brings you back in time... Remember when they started filling your pages with ads?

[kudzumaster]

04:15 PM on 07/15/2010

Rupert Murdoch. 'Nuff said.

Really, HuffPo, it seems you're trying to drum drama out of nothing here.

[FreedomOnionSoup]

03:39 PM on 07/15/2010

I left myspace after the third sparkly-flashing-dancing disney character message appeared in my comments section.