MySpace is a social networking website. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California where it shares an office building with its immediate owner, News Corp. Digital Media, owned by News Corporation. MySpace became the most popular social networking site in the United States in June 2006.According to comScore, MySpace was overtaken internationally by its main competitor, Facebook, in April 2008, based on monthly unique visitors.MySpace employs 1,000 employees, after laying off 30% of its workforce in June 2009;the company does not disclose revenues or profits separately from News Corporation. The 100 millionth account was created on August 9, 2006,in the Netherlands.

As one of the earlier social networking websites on the internet, MySpace has had a lot of time to grow and develop. It has evolved into a social networking site for individuals as well as a place where music bands and businesses can promote themselves. It is different to other sites in that it is highly customisable – great for someone who wants to stand out from the crowd. Yet despite its maturity, the site retains some issues that make it less appealing than other social networking sites.

Every user on MySpace has a profile which can be customised to a high degree. Boxes which can be filled with information about the user provide some continuity, however apart from that, the page can be adapted to the tastes of the individual using the ‘Customise Profile’ function. Here, you can choose from pre-made profile designs, or you can enter your own coding for a completely unique profile.

Many of MySpace’s features are similar to Facebook – there is a box on your homepage asking you ‘what do you want to share?’ and here you can type short status updates about how you are feeling or what you are thinking. You can also use emoticons to express your mood or share links, videos and photos. Whatever you decide to share is then posted onto your other friends’ ‘streams’ – a continually updating feed of what friends are sharing. A handy function on the stream is that you can sort posts by type – for example you could sort the stream by ‘Photos’, which will then only show you the photos that friends have recently shared.

As well as the stream, you can communicate with friends you have added by sending them private mail, or you can publically write a ‘comment’ on their profile which can be read by other people. You can also use MySpace IM which is an instant messaging service so that you can chat with other friends who are online.

One of the main usages of MySpace nowadays is as a place for bands to promote their music. Users can become friends of the artists that they like, who can then update them with news and tour dates. Artists’ profiles provide them with a space to have a music player where fans can listen to their music online, as well as linking them to iTunes where they can pay to download it. Again, all profiles are extremely customisable meaning that artists can maintain a slick and consistent image.

Due to its customisability, MySpace can be intimidating for first-time users. It has improved a lot over the years, and now provides users with simple templates for their profiles meaning that they do not have to write the code themselves. However, just the fact that it is possible to write your own code for the site can be confusing and off-putting to some people.

MySpace has also had many difficulties in the past due to the ability of each user to write the code for their own page. Some pages can load extremely slowly, and may even freeze internet browsers – often this is due to users filling their pages with lots of music and video files.

Additionally, many people have been put off MySpace due to issues of online safety and security. Due to its popularity as a site for up-coming bands and musicians, users can also get a lot of annoying spam messages from people wanting to listen to their music. However, a more serious problem is that there have been various occasions where people have been able to write harmful codes into their MySpace sites, meaning that any visitors become vulnerable to phishing attacks and internet spyware – obviously this can make potential users extremely wary.

Whilst MySpace can be fun and useful for some, it would appear that it’s time has come and gone – sites such as Facebook and Twitter have overtaken it in terms of functionality and security. However, it remains a useful tool for those interested in music or those wishing to promote themselves as artists.

Author Bio: Vladimir Petrov – Chief Technology Advisor www.minleys.net

Category: Internet
Keywords: myspace,social networking,facebook,myspace.com,online networks