A 500-word blog post that responds to another article

MySpace and Facebook
The article that I chose to do my blog entry on was MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites. By reading this article I learned many things. Most importantly I learned how MySpace and Facebook have changed the lives of millions of people of all ages. Before friend networking websites existed, mostly everyone used emails and instant messaging for.
The article points out that MySpace and Facebook are two friend-networking that are very important in the lives of high school and college students. It has been estimated that MySpace has over20 million registered users, with a sign-up rate of over 230,000 users per day, 7 and Facebook was estimated to have approximately 9.5 million users as
Of September 2006.8 these networking sites have number of features that allow individuals to communicate with others. Both of these sites allows its users to post information about them, post pictures, and leave messages for friends. These sites allow their users many different styles of communication. The different types of communication are very important; because they keep the young generation entertained and if you can keep their attention then your business will prosper.
The article talks about how there was a study done on a group of students in which when students arriving to the study section, they were given a two-part packet to complete. The first page contained only one question, “Do you have a My-Space or Facebook account? Students responded by checking yes or no to this question.
Part I of the packet was filled out by students who had MySpace or Facebook. There were four sections in this part. Section 1 asked the students general questions about how long they had been involved in these sites. In section 2 students were asked to for what reasons did they use the sites. In section 3 students why doesn’t everyone have accounts on these sites? The fourth and final section of Part I obtained information including sex, age, and ethnicity.
Part II of the packet, completed by students didn’t have MySpace or Facebook account, also contained four sections. Section 1 asked students general information about why they did not have a MySpace or Facebook account. Section 2 had students indicate the reasons for not having an account, for example was it because they didn’t have many friends? In section 3, students were asked to predict why other students would have accounts on these sites. The final section of Part II obtained information, including sex, age, and ethnicity.
The results of the study indicated that 87.1% of students said they had a friend-networking account online. The article states that because of spring semester there was an increase in the number of participants having accounts and that the same study conducted with primarily freshman in the fall semester would have lower percentage. Most students said that they had had their accounts for 7 to 24 months, extending back past the start of the fall semester. The article also states that it is impossible to note the number of college students using these sites and the amount of time per day students spend on these friend-networking sites. Overall, results suggest students spend almost 3hours per day either on their accounts or someone else’s account.