The MySpace Experiment and a Few MySpace Links

Rarely does a day go by when I'm not reading at least one article about MySpace in my assortment of RSS feeds; here's just a few that I've come across today:

• Police Use MySpace to ID Suspects: from Wired; police used MySpace profiles to nab suspects in a robbery.
• College Admissions Officers Read Blogs and MySpace: from the BloggersBlog; more and more college admin-type folks are reading MySpace to get a feel for who you are, which is a BIG reason why you should perhaps be careful not to use names like "BigPimpDaddy" or "KittenEatingBigfoot", etc.
• Is MySpace Just A Fad?: From Many to Many; one of the most interesting statements was "If MySpace falters in the next 1-2 years, it will be because of this moral panic."
• MySpace:The Movie: "Amateur filmmaker David Lehre first screened his short film MySpace: The Movie about a month ago at his 21st birthday party. Since then, the spoof of the popular networking site has been viewed more than 6 million times through various online sites and has prompted a development deal offer from MTV, contact from Hollywood managers and a complimentary e-mail from MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson." Here's the video:
• Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace: Really good article from Danah Boyd about why MySpace is so popular with the younguns. Hint: it's not because of the gorgeous design.

I've been conducting my own MySpace experiment and I think I've come to the official end of the experiment part. Here's what I've discovered.

A lot of people use MySpace. Duh, right? However, I've been able to meet a ton of really cool people using MySpace that I don't necessarily think I would've otherwise.

MySpace is easy to use. MySpace's main appeal is that it's supremely easy to use. It's all-access technology that doesn't take a Geek degree to really dig into. Yeah, the design is totally ghetto and the site is down more often than not, but that seems to be part of the appeal.

MySpace is undercover Web 2.0. The hype you might hear these days about Web 2.0 has been quietly explored over at MySpace now for a while. If Web 2.0 is all about making the Internet and technology online accessible to a wider community, i.e., making the Web, people, and technology more integrated and more streamlined, then MySpace should be considered part of that effort. People are using this technology without being made painfully aware that they are USING THIS TECHNOLOGY. In other words, MySpace doesn't expect its users to take themselves too seriously. The technology takes a back seat to people...which is how it should be.

I like MySpace. This one surprised me, since I've heard far more bad stuff about MySpace than good; mostly to do with parents lamenting lack of control over their kids on Myspace, etc. MySpace is one of the very few social networking sites that I've actually stuck with. It doesn't require a ton of overly complicated input from me, in fact, it's been pretty low maintenance yet self-sustaining, always a good combination. The experiment is officially over, but I intend to keep on using MySpace.

More about MySpace:

• Free Premade MySpace Layouts: If you've ever searched the Web for five seconds for free MySpace layouts, you know that there's a lot of junk and not much good stuff...unless you know where to look. I've put together a list of my favorite MySpace premade layouts here, and there's something for everyone.
• Add Background Music to your MySpace Profile: Lots of folks over at MySpace have music playing on their profiles; find out how you can do this too.
• How To Put Premade MySpace Layouts in Your MySpace Profile: Once you find the perfect MySpace layout from my list of the best sites on the Web, where do you put it? Read this tutorial to learn now.

Post to del.icio.us  | Digg This! |  Furl It!