Is MySpace really greying?

A lot of blogosphere energy has been spent discussing the recent figures from ComScore in the USA about a rapid aging of the average MySpace user.

Boyd and Stutzman have been doing some digging and comparing the result to their own research which problematises the apparent age rise. As they point out, there is a vast difference between visitors (content readers) and users (content creators/social networking participants)

[ComSpace] have found that the unique VISITORS have gotten older. This is _not_ the same thing as USERS. A year ago, most adults hadn’t heard about MySpace. The moral panic has made it such that many US adults have now heard of it. This means that they _visit_ the site. Do they all have accounts? Probably not. Furthermore, MySpace has attracted numerous bands in the last year. If you Google most bands, their MySpace page is either first or second; you can visit these without an account. People of all ages look for bands through search.