• Cnet , Tuesday, December 2, 2008 12:15 PM

Michael Wolff, author of the new Rupert Murdoch bio "The Man Who Owns the News," stirred up some controversy this week in an interview with BusinessWeek's Jon Fine, during which he classified MySpace users as low class. "If you're on MySpace now, you're a (bleep) cretin. And you're not only a (bleep) cretin, but you're poor," Wolff said, adding: "Nobody who has beyond an eighth grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people."

To his credit, Fine didn't agree. He pointed out that bands have to be on MySpace. MySpace Music has become "a powerful driver" for them and for the site. "And second of all," Fine said, "If I am to accept your reasoning -- even though I don't -- as the success of The Sun (a News Corp.-owned British tabloid) will tell you, there are lot of cretins out there and you can make a lot of money off cretins."

Cnet's Caroline McCarthy reads between the lines: "MySpace encourages glitter text," while Facebook "mandates that members must use their real names," so one is going to attract a classier crowd than the other. But, as Fine notes, it doesn't really matter what kind of audience your site caters to, as long as it makes money. And MySpace is still "the flagship property of the top destination for display ads (Fox Interactive Media) on the Web. Facebook, meanwhile, is still seen as an experimental ad medium."

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