The MySpace phenomenon
By PATRICK CARLSON
Google. Amazon. Yahoo.
MySpace?
While the first three monikers have become famous throughout the world, MySpace.com, a social networking Web site is closing in on the big brands of the Internet. Its popularity has come in a way much different than many other successful Internet sites.
Rather than selling goods or helping people search and navigate the Net, MySpace has achieved billions of visits by connecting visitors to its most valuable product — each other.
MySpace, created in 2003, has more than 66 million members, with 255,000 more joining every day according to a recent report in the Financial Times. The Web site lets members build their own pages, create their own URLs, post photos, blogs and music.
Beyond giving people an easy and convenient presence on the Net, MySpace is best known for connecting people with other members through a networking process where users create a group of friends. Through this group, which for many members includes dozens or even hundreds of people, users post messages on each other’s pages, send bulletins and organize events.
A recent walkout by more than 36,000 high school students in Los Angeles County to protest federal immigration legislation was organized in part through communicating on MySpace, according to the Associated Press.
Hugely popular with young people, MySpace has become the primary form of communication for many of them, including here in Kittitas County.
Ellensburg resident Holly Godden, 23, has been a MySpace member for more than a year, and says she uses the site every day. She called it an easy way to stay in touch with old friends, and she also recounted a common story among MySpace members — the long-lost friend finding their page on MySpace and contacting them. Godden said she once received a message from someone she hadn’t talked to since the second grade.
One reason for this is that the site allows members to search its list of users by high school and graduation year, letting them experience that moment when the face of a old classmate appears. All that socializing can be habit-forming too, according to Godden.
“I think it’s a well-known thing among MySpace users that it’s kind of addictive,” Godden said.
Central Washington University student Leah Shelton, 23, expressed some apprehension about having a page on the site, and allowing anyone on the Net access to part of her life.
“I think everyone’s embarrassed to be on it,” Shelton said. “It’s like this guilty pleasure that everyone has, but we don’t want to admit to.
“It’s almost voyeuristic. You can see all these different things about people’s lives that you wouldn’t normally see.”
Shelton recounted the strange feeling she gets when she sees a person in one of her classes whose page she has seen on MySpace. She said it was odd to know so many details about a person who she has never talked to, details that are often very personal.
“People have filters on themselves in real life, but those aren’t there on MySpace,” Shelton said.
Shelton said people are even meeting their significant others online, but she’s also seen people’s MySpace pages that she knows contain lies.
“I’ve heard about some horrible dates that people have gone on,” Shelton said.
Godden said there is definitely an unsettling aspect to the MySpace phenomenon, especially when she interacts with people she doesn’t know.
“You do get the friend request from people you’ve never seen,” Godden said. “The Internet can be a kind of shady thing, so I use it with people I know in real life.”
Shelton still has concerns about privacy and the commercialization of MySpace. When she began using the site, Shelton’s profile contained paragraphs of information about herself — now it is a single sentence, she said. MySpace, barely two-years-old, is already the property of one of the world’s largest media companies, and was the second-most visited site on the Internet in February behind only Yahoo, according to Business Week magazine. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought the company that owns MySpace.com for $580 million in July 2005 in an effort to increase its presence on the Web.
Despite all the change and growth of the one-time unique hangout on the Web, Shelton said she plans on staying active on the site for now.
“I like MySpace when it comes down to it,” Shelton said. “It reconnected me with my best friend from high school.”
online, but she’s also seen people’s MySpace pages that she knows contain lies.
“I’ve heard about some horrible dates that people have gone on,” Shelton said.
Godden said there is definitely an unsettling aspect to the MySpace phenomenon, especially when she interacts with people she doesn’t know.
“You do get the friend request from people you’ve never seen,” Godden said. “The Internet can be a kind of shady thing, so I use it with people I know in real life.”
Shelton still has concerns about privacy and the commercialization of MySpace. When she began using the site, Shelton’s profile contained paragraphs of information about herself — now it is a single sentence, she said. MySpace, barely two-years-old, is already the property of one of the world’s largest media companies, and was the second-most visited site on the Internet in February behind only Yahoo, according to Business Week magazine. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought the company that owns MySpace.com for $580 million in July 2005 in an effort to increase its presence on the Web.
Despite all the change and growth of the one-time unique hangout on the Web, Shelton said she plans on staying active on the site for now.
“I like MySpace when it comes down to it,” Shelton said. “It reconnected me with my best friend from high school.”
Google. Amazon. Yahoo.
MySpace?
While the first three monikers have become famous throughout the world, MySpace.com, a social networking Web site is closing in on the big brands of the Internet. Its popularity has come in a way much different than many other successful Internet sites.
Rather than selling goods or helping people search and navigate the Net, MySpace has achieved billions of visits by connecting visitors to its most valuable product — each other.
MySpace, created in 2003, has more than 66 million members, with 255,000 more joining every day according to a recent report in the Financial Times. The Web site lets members build their own pages, create their own URLs, post photos, blogs and music.
Beyond giving people an easy and convenient presence on the Net, MySpace is best known for connecting people with other members through a networking process where users create a group of friends. Through this group, which for many members includes dozens or even hundreds of people, users post messages on each other’s pages, send bulletins and organize events.
A recent walkout by more than 36,000 high school students in Los Angeles County to protest federal immigration legislation was organized in part through communicating on MySpace, according to the Associated Press.
Hugely popular with young people, MySpace has become the primary form of communication for many of them, including here in Kittitas County.
Ellensburg resident Holly Godden, 23, has been a MySpace member for more than a year, and says she uses the site every day. She called it an easy way to stay in touch with old friends, and she also recounted a common story among MySpace members — the long-lost friend finding their page on MySpace and contacting them. Godden said she once received a message from someone she hadn’t talked to since the second grade.
One reason for this is that the site allows members to search its list of users by high school and graduation year, letting them experience that moment when the face of a old classmate appears. All that socializing can be habit-forming too, according to Godden.
“I think it’s a well-known thing among MySpace users that it’s kind of addictive,” Godden said.
Central Washington University student Leah Shelton, 23, expressed some apprehension about having a page on the site, and allowing anyone on the Net access to part of her life.
“I think everyone’s embarrassed to be on it,” Shelton said. “It’s like this guilty pleasure that everyone has, but we don’t want to admit to.
“It’s almost voyeuristic. You can see all these different things about people’s lives that you wouldn’t normally see.”
Shelton recounted the strange feeling she gets when she sees a person in one of her classes whose page she has seen on MySpace. She said it was odd to know so many details about a person who she has never talked to, details that are often very personal.
“People have filters on themselves in real life, but those aren’t there on MySpace,” Shelton said.
Shelton said people are even meeting their significant others online, but she’s also seen people’s MySpace pages that she knows contain lies.
“I’ve heard about some horrible dates that people have gone on,” Shelton said.
Godden said there is definitely an unsettling aspect to the MySpace phenomenon, especially when she interacts with people she doesn’t know.
“You do get the friend request from people you’ve never seen,” Godden said. “The Internet can be a kind of shady thing, so I use it with people I know in real life.”
Shelton still has concerns about privacy and the commercialization of MySpace. When she began using the site, Shelton’s profile contained paragraphs of information about herself — now it is a single sentence, she said. MySpace, barely two-years-old, is already the property of one of the world’s largest media companies, and was the second-most visited site on the Internet in February behind only Yahoo, according to Business Week magazine. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought the company that owns MySpace.com for $580 million in July 2005 in an effort to increase its presence on the Web.
Despite all the change and growth of the one-time unique hangout on the Web, Shelton said she plans on staying active on the site for now.
“I like MySpace when it comes down to it,” Shelton said. “It reconnected me with my best friend from high school.”
online, but she’s also seen people’s MySpace pages that she knows contain lies.
“I’ve heard about some horrible dates that people have gone on,” Shelton said.
Godden said there is definitely an unsettling aspect to the MySpace phenomenon, especially when she interacts with people she doesn’t know.
“You do get the friend request from people you’ve never seen,” Godden said. “The Internet can be a kind of shady thing, so I use it with people I know in real life.”
Shelton still has concerns about privacy and the commercialization of MySpace. When she began using the site, Shelton’s profile contained paragraphs of information about herself — now it is a single sentence, she said. MySpace, barely two-years-old, is already the property of one of the world’s largest media companies, and was the second-most visited site on the Internet in February behind only Yahoo, according to Business Week magazine. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought the company that owns MySpace.com for $580 million in July 2005 in an effort to increase its presence on the Web.
Despite all the change and growth of the one-time unique hangout on the Web, Shelton said she plans on staying active on the site for now.
“I like MySpace when it comes down to it,” Shelton said. “It reconnected me with my best friend from high school.”
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