In an article on Facebook’s efforts to ramp up its advertising offerings, Ad Age draws a striking contrast between the corporate cultures at MySpace and Facebook.
Facebook lured 222 million unique visitors in December, according to ComScore, twice as many as MySpace, and it has been growing at a more than 10% rate each month since September.
Until now, Facebook has focused on growth at the expense of advertising, much like YouTube circa 2007. MySpace, on the other hand, wasn’t born in a Harvard dorm room and is run like a profit center for Rupert Murdoch, one reason it’s expected to book around $1 billion in ad revenue in 2008, compared with Facebook’s estimated $300 million.
Facebook is the pretty girl everyone’s dating. Yes, the internet makes it possible. MySpace, on the other hand, is a call girl.