Myspace.com is an online social network with over 56 million users -- and it's growing every day.
Founded in July 2003 by Tom Anderson, the MySpace network has grown from a David into a digital Goliath. As of February 2006, Myspace.com was the world's seventh most popular English language website.
In the world of online networking, prior to Myspace.com there were two big names, Livejournal and Friendster. Since its inception, Myspace has surpassed both websites in traffic and revenue.
Myspace.com is a free website, and creating a profile takes no more than 15 minutes. Myspace works by filling out a personal profile with information about yourself and your personal interests. None of the information is required in order to sign up. Its appeal lies in the ease of meeting new people or keeping in contact with old friends.
Myspace also has a lot of custom profile programs that allow you to build a unique page design.
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Like everything else, however, Myspace is not without problems. Some people are able to hack into profiles using HTML coding comments. Since the problem was discovered, Myspace has worked to correct it.
Another potential drawback lies in one of its most appealing features, the ease of communication. On Nov. 7, 2005, only 400 out of 3,000 students of Warren High School in San Antonio, Texas, showed up after two male students posted that they were going to bring guns to school.
According to a "Dateline NBC" investigation, 50 men arrived at a house in Southern California to have sexual intercourse with a teenager under the age of 15 -- based on information posted on a MySpace web page.
This is not a problem unique to Myspace, though; virtually all Internet communication programs have this difficulty. It can be solved by not giving out to much detailed personal information.
The future for Myspace is a bright one. With an ever-growing user rate and integration into cell phones, it's just a matter of time before Myspace is a household name.
Tom Anderson, the founder of Myspace, has recently stated that it will include premium features some day, but everything you can currently do on Myspace will always be a free service. It's even become mainstream enough to have a television deal in development for a reality show based on the website.
Myspace has become a great way to network and meet new people, and it's only going to get bigger and better.
