How Facebook Beat MySpace
Before Facebook, MySpace was the leading social media website used. But then a college undergrad by the name of Mark Zuckerberg invented the site that effectively ruined MySpace and put it out of business. With MySpace having such a large amount of users, how was Facebook able to so successfully become the social media juggernaut that it continues to be today?
In a network, people copy the decisions of their friends and this can create a cascade of people switching to a new device or platform. For example, let’s say you will only switch from iPhone to Android if over half your friends have Android phones. If you have 3 friends and 2 get new Android phones with their upgrade, then you should also get an Android phone. This could start a cascade with more and more people getting android phones because their friends have android phones. Furthermore, a cluster can stop the progress of a cascade. So in order for a site such as Facebook to take over MySpace, it has to infiltrate these clusters and have cascades start in these clusters as well.
So how did Facebook do it? First of all Mark Zuckerberg was allowed Facebook to go wherever the market wanted it. Bringing in many games such as Farmville that so many users played. Implementing many different ways to find new friends. The founders listened to what the users wanted and made the technology to make it so. And Facebook kept listening. But beyond being a superior site than MySpace, Facebook also was able to spread within networks. When Facebook was first created, it was meant for only kids at Harvard. With the close knit of people at Harvard, Facebook became an instant sensation on campus with it being a must have for everybody. Soon, other schools heard about Facebook from their friends at Harvard and wanted to get in on the fun. So Facebook expanded beyond just Harvard and eventually reached the Ivy league schools. These students then told their friends, siblings, families about the site and it exploded in popularity. So by being a superior site and by spreading through a network, Facebook was able to take over MySpace.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2011/01/14/why-facebook-beat-myspace/