MySpace was the brain-child of university graduates Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe and was founded in the summer of 2003. Upon its inception, the site quickly jumped to commercial success and in 2005 was sold to a news corporation – one of Rupert Murdoch’s many. The website grew in size and popularity with users all over the world ranging from teenagers to aging men and women, who used it for a variety of different purposes. Today, it is ranked as one of the top ten websites on the World Wide Web.
MySpace is essentially a social networking service, which allows users to communicate with existing friends, make new ones, and share photos, music, messages and interests, -amongst a zillion other things – with a large and ever-growing community. Users can send emails within the website, post photos and videos, listen to new music and even create their own blogs where they can share their feelings with the world.
One of the many advantages of the system is its sheer simplicity. It only takes a few steps to become part of this community, and it’s absolutely free! Every profile allows users to completely personalize and add their own personal touch to their page. Two of the standard ‘blurbs’ -as they call it – are the “About Me” and the “Who I’d like to Meet.” Amidst making new friends, stalking celebrities, and writing their own blogs, users spend a lot of time on their personal profiles. The include details with regards to their interests such as television, music and books; hobbies and activities and often personal details like physical appearances and marital status. The website also allows users to upload a default image which appears all over the website in accordance with their name and to upload and host other photographs for their friends’ viewing pleasure.
Other than people who use MySpace for social networking, many a user utilize it as a vessel for self-promotion. This is best showcased by MySpace Music, where many up and coming musicians post their music, along with their profiles, and benefit from exposure and critiques which help them in the long run.
Another popular area of MySpace is the profiles many celebrities have. Whether they are linked to MySpace Music or to the main site, the celebrities use them to communicate with their fans and use the space to allow people to get to know them a little better, or for the more obvious publicity runs. Some of the famous personalities and bands on the website include the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kevin Federline, Foo Fighters and the Pussycat Dolls – amongst other renowned icons. There’s also MySpace Videos that allows users to watch a number of interesting videos that are being shared by their friends or celebrities.
MySpace has also become a marketing tool for people in the business game everywhere. Since the website allows mass mails, postage of regular bulletins, and a large database of friends, it is a valuable resource to promote your product – whether it’s a website, a car dealership or a comic book.
The MySpace name has become so common in everyday usage that one wonders the date of its inception into the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary! A number of websites related to the original have popped up. From providing scripts and backgrounds to “pimp out” your space to ideas on marketing, these websites have ignited a global race amongst the website’s users.
MySpace has, in a short span of time, become what people call “a way of life.”
And in today’s day and age, it is often considered a faux pas if you are not part of the largest community on the internet – the MySpace Family.
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