It wasn't all that long ago that MySpace was the talk of the town. Taking off around 2003, it built on the success of early social networking sites like Friendster.

Today, it's Facebook and Twitter fighting it out for the title of the world's most popular social networking site.

Swinburne University media and communications lecturer Lisa Gye said Twitter was "a bit like a party when everyone's talking at once".

"It's a bit like Chinese whispers, and things circulate in a weird way where people talk about a topic and then there's a diversion and then they talk about another."

She said Facebook was more broad-based now than when it first started. "Facebook is more than just status updates. It offers facilities like photo upload, video upload and sharing content."

Facebook is not just for Generation Y. Ms Gye says the increasing number of middle-aged and older people using the website could drive younger people off the site.

"As more and more people inhabit the space, younger people, as they do, will want to leave.

"They will want to find their own space, and a place where they can talk privately."

Once the most popular social networking website, it hasn't been smooth sailing for MySpace.

Ms Gye said part of the reason why it has dropped in popularity is because it "unlinked itself from its original purpose" - to be a place where you could tell the world about yourself.

She said the corporatisation of MySpace and the addition of more advertising had made more young people look for alternatives.