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While the perception of MySpace visitors is that of teens and twenty-somethings with a smattering of marketers looking for the Next Big Thing, the demographics of the site have been gradually shifting as the site has grown.

According to the ComScore figures, 44.4 per cent of the visitors are in the expected 12-35 age bracket while 55.6 per cent of the visitors were older than 35. In fact, a sizable 11 per cent are over 55 and are approaching or at a pensionable age.

The shift in demographics may well have a profound effect on the perception of MySpace. On the one hand, the young, hip audience that has defined MySpace may well move off to a more exclusively younger site such as Bebo or Facebook.

Indeed, this may already be happening. Comscore notes that the biggest shift in visitors has occurred among teenagers between 12 and17. In August 2005, this group accounted for 24.7 per cent of the MySpace audience but now only accounts for 11.9 per cent of the site's total audience.