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Myspace users (what's left of them) are more open-minded, study says

Mark Milian
Myspace's audience numbers are on a steady decline, but the ones left are more open-minded, studies say.
Myspace's audience numbers are on a steady decline, but the ones left are more open-minded, studies say.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Myspace users tend to be more open to opposing viewpoints, a study says
  • Myspace is still the second-largest social networking site, but its numbers are shrinking
  • Social network users, especially on Facebook, are more social in real life, a study says
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(CNN) -- People who regularly visit Myspace tend to be more open-minded, according to a study released Thursday.

They'd probably have to be, if they're still using Myspace.

Objectivity aside, the once-dominant social network has been on a steady decline, despite still having millions of users, according to Chris DeWolfe, the site's co-founder and former CEO who now runs a social-gaming platform called MindJolt.

The company has lost focus since ceding the market to competitors, he said in a recent interview.

Myspace remains the second-largest social network, according to the Pew report and research firm comScore. Myspace had 35 million visitors last month, but that number has steadily dropping, comScore said in a report on Wednesday.

The new champions of social networking, of course, are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, which are all increasing their audiences, comScore says.

Users of those services are no more likely to consider alternative points of view than people who don't use those sites or who don't log onto the Internet, according to the report from the Pew Research Center. Researchers compared groups of the same gender and education levels, because demographics affect people's openness to different viewpoints, the report says.

Those who frequent niche social networks are generally less open-minded, the research found.

Myspace is owned by parent company News Corporation, which also owns Fox News, a network where the demographic skews predominantly older, male and politically conservative. (News Corp. is currently looking to spin off or sell the Los Angeles-based Myspace, which has struggled to turn a profit.)

Myspace attracts an ethnically diverse crowd, and active users may be returning in order to interact with "a range of people and ideas," Lee Rainie, the director for the Pew Internet project, wrote in an e-mail.

"Proportionally, the users of MySpace are more likely to be from urban areas and they might be the 'new cosmopolitans' -- people who like diverse experiences and are open to them," he wrote.

The Myspace group from the Pew study included people who visit at least six times a month. Of some 2,255 U.S. adults surveyed in October and November, that sampling is small. Only 7% of Myspace users visit the site every day versus about half of Facebook users, the report says.

The survey showed that social networking has been growing among older users. The average age of adult users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010, according to the report.

Social networking users, especially those on Facebook, also tend to have more close real-life relationships, be more trusting, and be more politically engaged, the Pew report says. Another Pew report from January also supports the idea that being active in online social networks carries over into real-world socializing.

If you don't fit into that group, there's an app for that.

[TECH: NEWSPULSE]

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