Myspace~ A Gift or A Curse?
It's the biggest epidemic since peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and it's growing as we speak. Everyone from your local celebrities to your International superstars have myspace pages now and something tells me that this is only the beginning of what is to come. Since MySpace was founded in July 2003 by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe it hasn't done anything but doubled and tripled its worth, going from a young man's idea to the whole world's technological playground.
Facts:
>MySpace was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation via its $500 million purchase of parent company Intermix in 2005.
>The site reportedly attracts new registrations at a rate of 230,000 per day.
>MySpace is also home to various musicians, filmmakers, celebrities, and comedians who upload songs, short films, and other work directly onto their profile. These songs and films can also be embedded in other profiles, an interconnectedness which adds to MySpace's appeal.
>In January 2006, Fox announced plans to launch a UK version of MySpace in a bid to "tap into the UK music scene" which they have since done (see MySpace International). They also plan to launch in China and possibly other countries.
Just like all things, Myspace has its' pros and cons with the pros weighing heavily in their direction, some of the cons aren't very easily overlooked. Due to the fact that Myspace is so popular it attracts all ages and opens a gateway of spam to all its users. Being a member subjects you to a lot of 'crazy' bulletins and 'weird' users who range anywhere from teenagers to middle age adults.
I myself have two myspace pages, one that I post my music on and the other that I use to network with my friends and family. I can only recall my experience with myspace as being more like a drug than a bad habit because of the various things you learn just from seeing other peoples pages. I've gained a little "html" knowledge since joining myspace and I've grown to understand a lot what you need to create a entertaining myspace page. Since visual has always seemed to been the better illustration, I've also noticed that there are certain advantages to having that 'appeal' for the average myspacer's eye.
Girls can manipulate there pages into somewhat of a shrine to themselves for the people as well as musicians, models, artists, and comedians can use to display they're portfolio/catalogs. Even with all the distractions and errors that may come when using myspace, nevertheless you can't deny that myspace isn't thee place to be...