Stuff like this makes the Compete blog a must-read: OpenSocial – Should Facebook really be worried and what are the next big apps?. Ultimately, this discussion relates to the question of whether or not multiple social networks can co-exist, or is it going to be winner-takes-all. In my opinion, you’ll have many social networks that people jump in and out of (like real life!) but obviously some folks think the opposite.
Compete included this great table, outlining some of the site affinities between the different groups.
Here’s an example analysis on MySpace users:
While Heavy MySpace users perform many of the same actions as Facebook users, they do so in dramatically different ways.
* Beyond the use of AOL instant messenger (assumed by the high affinity for AIM pages) MySpace users prefer Meebo.com for instant communication.
* This group tends to shop at Youth oriented retailers, being more than 4 times as likely to visit Journeys.com and Hottopic.com as the average internet user.
* The lack of applications forces MySpace users to look outside for some things that Facebook provides within it’s application platform. Projectplaylist projects music, imageshack hosts their images, flirty youth sites allows them to date, and imikimi.com gets their photos to sparkle.
* MySpace users also rely heavily on third party layouts sites to customize their profile pages. There are literally hundreds of layout resources, many of which receive visitor counts in the hundreds of thousands.