MySpace embraced by a generation
MySpace.com, an online social networking site launched in 2003, has quickly become one of the most popular websites in the United States, rivaling such sites as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and eBay. MySpace is currently ranked the third most visited website in the United States and is home to over 61 million registered users.
MySpace was founded by a 35 year old University Tom Anderson, a graduate from UCLA and UCB, along with co-founder Chris DeWolf, and a handful of other computer programmers.
While its popularity may be contributed to a number of things, the massive explosion of MySpace in the last year is undeniable. According to Micro Persuasion, an online marketing and public relations site, MySpace’s primary demographic is those ranging from ages 16 to 34, showing that most of its popularity is due to high school and college aged students.
With such a grasp on an entire generation, it can arguably be considered a distraction for students, or a medium allowing you to display fabricated or filtered facts.
“I think a lot of what people put on MySpace is ridiculous, it’s not really who they are, it’s just who they want people to think they are” said Kim Collins, a 20 year old Education major, “the internet as a whole is a distraction for kids, if it wasn’t MySpace it’d be some other site.”
Despite the presumptions of user fabrications, most attribute its success not to the millions of profiles it contains, but to its ability to provide easy and free communication with friends.
“Everybody is on it, and it’s an easy way to talk to your friends” said Halley Filipski, an 18 year old Broadcasting major, “I don’t know any of my friends email addresses, but we stay in touch and email each other everyday through MySpace”.
In correlation with its positive and negative aspects MySpace has seemingly spawned a sort of generational divide: those who use it, and those who don’t. “I won’t touch MySpace” said Allison Garrison, a 19 year old communications major, “I don’t care how many of my friends have it. It’s just a reason for girls to take a million sexy pictures of themselves and show them off.”
MySpace has created controversy amongst its users the same as it has allowed a much needed outlet for bands and a place for networking, activist groups, and advertisers. It is currently home to 1.4 million registered bands and includes upwards of 50,000 groups with topics ranging from fashion to religion.
Despite the divide amongst its targeted demographic, MySpace has become a recognizable symbol of an entire generation, and a controversial “place for friends”.
Volume
44, Issue 3. Today is
Scott Seligman / Mesa Legend
Richard Marquez, 22, a journalism major, sends a message on MySpace during a study break. “It’s a fast and easy way to keep in touch with people,” said Marquez.