The Facebook-MySpace war has escalated, and Playboy.com’s Antonia Simigis has the winner.
The much-hyped redesign of MySpace launched Wednesday, courtesy of the folks at News Corporation. It's something that's long overdue because, frankly, MySpace had become a disaster. Impossibly long load times. Regular crashes. Confusing navigation. It was all dragging down Rupert Murdoch's multimillion-dollar baby, which finally relinquished its number-one spot in the social networking echelon to its clean and user-friendly competitor, Facebook, in April.
So has anything on MySpace improved? And which is a better choice -- MySpace or Facebook -- for the Playboy-minded user? Let's look at the specifics...
Ads:
MySpace has cleaned up its act a bit, with fewer tabs and less scattered navigation. But unlike the privately-owned Facebook, NewsCorp is beholden to its advertisers, resulting in the garish wallpapering of MySpace's homepage. Facebook's a little more sneaky, harvesting your personal information and sending ads targeted to your demographic (if you're an adult listed as being in an unmarried relationship, for example, expect to be bombarded with engagement ring ads). Fortunately they're small and easily ignored.
Winner: Facebook
Personalization:
MySpace's pages look like the digital equivalent of a high school freshman's locker. Not suave. We don't endorse crazy Playboy-themed skins like this one. But when done tastefully, personalization can look nice. Take Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole's purple-themed page, for example. Nonetheless, the simple, seamless look of Facebook is still easier on the eyes.
Winner: Facebook
Multimedia:
MySpace's redesign has made music and video easy and fun to experience, something Facebook is simply not engineered to do. This is where you can hear great albums, like Dimitri From Paris's Return to the Playboy Mansion-- although points off for running trashy TMZ videos about our lovely Girls Next Door, like this one.
Winner: MySpace
Fandom:
You can be Playboy's friend on MySpace or a fan on Facebook. But we're partial to some of Facebook's fan-generated sites, such as Hugh Hefner Is My Idol, I Want To Be Hugh Hefner When I Grow Up, and not one, but two Hugh Hefner For President sites.
Winner: Sorry, MySpace. Facebook, you have our vote.
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Comments on this entry:
Don’t forget the HoffSpace (http://www.davidhasselhoff.com/).
And of course Playboy's collegiate social network and content site, PlayboyU.com
Facebook has my vote, too. My Space does not allow direct linking to Playboy.com (even the non-nude portions like this blog)while Facebook DOES. Super lame on My Space...