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Social networking websites have cropped up across the Internet and have soared in popularity. What's not to love? A virtual meeting place for old friends to gather and for new acquaintances to get to know one another. The Internet provides wonderful ways for people to keep in touch and social networking sites such as MySpace have created terrific platforms to accomplish this.

MySpace is currently one of the leaders of the pack in online social networking. As it's expansive community of members grows, the conceptual idea of this type of network has grown just as rapidly; new social, professional and interest related networking websites are emerging all the time. MySpace's future will depend on whether or not they can successfully remain a forerunner amidst all of the new players entering the market.

Both younger and older generations have become enthralled with online social networking, but it has been said the younger generation drives this market; it has also been said oung adults tend to move quickly from one online fad to the next. Is MySpace the current fad that will one day find itself put out to pasture?

Trends come and go and in order to maintain a bright future, MySpace will have to construct a business model designed with flexibility. It will have to be flexible enough to adapt to new ideas, but also be able to continue to provide an attractive environment which is appealing to users to keep them coming back instead of moving on to new horizons. MySpace will need to remain on the cutting edge and stay "hip"; if they can do this, they may survive.

In looking back over the history of online community based forums, there is a trend that illustrates websites typically lose attractiveness over a period of time as technologies evolve and new products emerge. Even America Online (AOL), once the dominator of online communities, has all but faded away; many of their users have moved onto more appealing ventures.

A few lingering communities remain on AOL, but what was once the king of social networking has rapidly faded into the land of lost civilizations because they couldn't withstand the test of competition and evolution of technological change. While MySpace's model is a bit different than AOL, at some point MySpace will have to find a way to remain viable against the new sites that emerge with newer and more trendy interfaces.

Today's on-demand society likes to see innovation and when it comes to social networking, people tend to navigate towards what's "hot" at the moment. In order to have a future, MySpace will have to be able to maintain a strong web presence and keep up with the fast pace of technology.

Will MySpace become one of those lost society statistics fading off into the land of abandoned websites? It is too early to say, but if they are elastic enough to continually reinvent themselves, then they'll have a pretty good shot withstanding the test of time alongside of what kind of social networking surfaces as the next latest fad.

Learn more about this author, Leigh Goessl.
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