Last month, we posted a blog Does Anyone Still Use MySpace?, which summarized an article from the Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge about a study of the users of social networks: who they are, and what they are doing on these sites.

One fascinating finding in that piece was that people are in fact using MySpace – 65 million to be exact. It just may not be who you think. According to the research noted in the article, it’s because MySpace users populate smaller cities and communities in the south and central US. “MySpace has a PR problem because its users are in places where they don’t have much contact with people who create news that gets read by others,” said Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, the Harvard Business School associate professor featured in the article.

And recently, a related story aired on NPR about the social divide on social media. The piece examines the use of social media among high school students at The Urban School, an elite high school in San Francisco, and art students at Southern Exposure, a San Francisco community gallery. While all students are living in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US, there still seems to be a divide on social media. This story suggests that social status and race are the reasons for this online social stratification.

The majority of students at The Urban School are part of the group of 90 million Facebook users and held somewhat elitist attitudes about social media, one student saying, “No one uses MySpace. [Facebook] is safer and more high class.” Another student said of MySpace, “The only people who use it are trashy people.”

The students over at Southern Exposure have their own thoughts on who’s using social media networks, one stating, “Not to be racist or anything, but there’s more white kids on Facebook.”

While this is just a microcosm of the real world, research (and a lot of it) is supporting the idea of social stratification on social media. One social media researcher, danah boyd (name spelled in all lower case) thinks the online social world is dividing up – just like the real world – into neighborhoods.

“Young people – and for the most part adults as well – don’t really interact online with strangers,” says boyd. “They talk to people they already know. You have environments in which people are divided by race, divided by class, divided by lifestyle.”

boyd theorizes that business analysts have been dismissing MySpace because they do not belong to the social groups using that site. Because studies show that lower income users are more likely to click on ads, boyd feels MySpace is an excellent place for advertising

What do you think?

Click here to read the full article.

As we try to wrap our minds around how to use social media networks to our advantage, it’s just as important to understand the audience. Just who are these users of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter? How are people using LinkedIn? Is anyone using MySpace anymore?

A recent article, “Understanding Users of Social Networks” by Sean Silverthorne in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge looks at the surprising findings of Harvard Business School associate professor, Mikolaj Jan Piskorski (shown at left) regarding his study of the users of online social networks. Through these findings companies can develop strategies to leverage various online networks for profit. Silverthorne’s article highlights five major insights regarding online social networks.

“No One Uses MySpace.” It turns out that little phrase isn’t true. In fact, there are 70 million MySpace users, not too far off from the 90 million on Facebook. So why isn’t MySpace getting any love? According to Piskorski, it’s because MySpace users populate smaller cities and communities in the south and central US. “MySpace has a PR problem because its users are in places where they don’t have much contact with people who create news that gets read by others.”

Then Came Twitter. Piskorski found that 90 percent of all “tweets” were created by 10 percent of users. More women are on Twitter than men but they tweet at about the same rate. Only people who are willing to put themselves out there publicly to others that they may not know use Twitter.

Addressing Network Failures. Online networks are successful when they point out the operational shortcomings of offline networks. For example, you might be less apt to keep up with classmates if you relied on reunions, telephone calls and mail, but online you can be up to speed on your friends’ lives very easily.

Empirical Evidence. Why are people on social networks? What are they doing? Piskorski has found that 70 percent of users look at pictures or view other’s profiles. He also discovered some major gender differences in site usage. For example, the biggest usage category was men looking at women they don’t know, followed by men looking at women they do know. Women on the other hand look at women they do know.

From Social Media to Social Strategy. Piskorski says that executives are treating social network sites like websites, as another channel to get people to click through. Users on social sites do not click through on advertising. These are social sites and to be successful, you need to think socially. The mindset needs to change from social media to social strategy. Firms need to help people fulfill their social needs online, and they can do that by making products more social and leveraging group dynamics.

Click here to read the complete article.