If you’re thinking about creating a MySpace presence for your university, you may want to think twice. Sunday’s Washington Post reported that MySpace’s biggest user group, teens, seem to be losing interest. Some are spending less time on the site; others are deleting their profiles altogether.
Says one high schooler: “I think it’s definitely going down — a lot of my friends have deleted their MySpaces and are more into Facebook now.”
Adds a classmate: “I’ve grown out of it.”
Concludes the Post: “Such is the social life of teens on the Internet: Powerful but fickle.”
The Chronicle’s Wired Campus bloggers note that “adolescent caprice may actually be less of a problem for MySpace than technology’s forward march: More attractive, less public sites like Facebook are are cutting into the social network’s market share.”
Which leads to the question: When will Facebook peak?
Andy writes! 
Considering the cost of setting up a profile on MySpace, I’m not sure institutions should take down their profile. I guess it all depends on your target audiences and your campus culture.
But, it’s true that Facebook is really pushing the enveloppe with new features right now. They just launched Link Share, a way to easily share a link to web content with your friends. Definitely something institutions should look into.
Karine – Good point. The cost of entering MySpace is dirt cheap, so why not set up an institutional profile? Of course, once institutions start setting up profiles on any social networking site, that’s a sure sign that the site has jumped the shark, or at least is on the way toward uncoolness.