Popularity Explained: MySpace and the Crumbling Interpersonal Barrier
There’s a reason that MySpace, in the span of a couple of years, has eclipsed all of the other internet sites devoted to social networking. Despite countless other available sites, such as FaceBook (for the kids in school), Friendster (which has declined rapidly in usage and popularity since the rise of MySpace), Google’s Orkut (still popular outside of the US, especially in South America and parts of Europe), and the more dating-oriented Lavalife (a profile-based system) and OkCupid (based largely on quiz results), more and more people are switching to MySpace and, perhaps more importantly, sticking around. So why the change?
The primary benefit of MySpace, strangely, is not any of the countless features that it offers, but rather how user-friendly and easy to navigate the site is. Whatever (or whomever) you’re looking for is only a click away on MySpace – profiles, pictures, comments, music, groups, editing tools – everything you’d need to get around the site is easily defined and easy to find. Each profile gets its own page, allowing access far more simply than Friendster or Orkut, which not only require logging in before browsing (though Friendster has plans to do away with this in the next month), but also spread their profiles over several pages. There you have it, folks, in a nutshell: the chief feature of MySpace is that it’s quick and easy enough to use that you can post a bulletin or check a friend’s page and be done in the two minutes that it takes your boss to come over to your desk, suspicious that you’re once again not working.
This, however, is not solely responsible for the surge in MySpace use. Surely cult status is made of firmer stuff, you say? Take a look at the myriad other features vaulting MySpace to the top:
1. The profile: The profile is very much the face that an individual shows the world, and as such, it may be a perfectly accurate depiction of the individual. While this is typically the case, one must embark on one’s MySpace adventures remembering that this is, in fact, the internet, and therefore everything must be taken with a grain of salt. Profile editors abound on the internet; a search for “myspace profile editor” will pull up over a million results. These allow individuals to personalize their profiles, adding color, images, falling text, and special colomns for additional information beyond the default settings. Members can choose which information they wish to disclose, and private profiles are automatically provided for those under 15 years of age, such that only those added as their friends can see their page (a precaution taken by MySpace during the media backlash against the site for being “unsafe,” though in truth, it is no less safe than any other social networking site). Members can search profiles by name or email address and can browse profiles based on criteria they select, such as age, sexual orientation, relationship status, education, and gender. Profiles contain space for personal information, general statistics, interests and favourites, a default picture, headline, location, friends, comments, and blogs.
2. Blogs: There are already a million and one blogging services on the internet, so why on earth does MySpace need one more? Simple – it all comes back to ease of use. Other blogging sites that provide the privacy options that MySpace does (limiting access to specific individuals, such as those on friends’ lists, and creating custom lists so that blogs are available to only select friends) will block non-users, cutting out the vast majority of an individual’s MySpace friends’ list. MySpace also offers the option of subscribing to another users’ blogs, so that they receive an email notification every time there’s a new post from that person.
3. Comments: Comments on MySpace generally come in three varieties: blog comments, photo comments, and profile comments. Blog comments can be left by anyone, whether or not they’re friends of the person who wrote the blog, and they generally have something to do with blog content. Picture comments can be left only by friends, and generally relate to the photo content, though there are certainly exceptions. Profile comments, however, are a completely different story, and this is one of the subtle arts of MySpace communication. MySpace does have a messaging system, but when you have something to say to a friend that absolutely everyone needs to see, the profile comment is the way to go. These can range from something as simple as “We need to hang out sometime; remember that time we skipped school to go to that ball game?” to more public proclaimations of affection. Indeed, you can often tell the relationship between two MySpace-active individuals by looking at their profile comments. Casual friends will leave comments with funny pictures or stories, but it seems as though partners and closer friends will leave comments when a message will do, as though to announce their presence to the rest of the world. Not only does it allow for a quick and easy way for friends to keep in touch, but the comment feature seems to be an effective way to let people know exactly where one’s affections, attentions, and loyalties lie.
4. Pictures/Video: MySpace offers its users space for up to 12 user photos (and they can have additional videos). These photos, available only to logged-in members (others will only see the default photo on the profile and cannot access the others). This is the perfect place for members to post personal photos, funny photos, or overwhelmingly vague photos that tell absolutely nothing of consequence at all, to show people their new haircut, their new rollerblades, or their new child; like so many of the other MySpace benefits, it’s totally at the user’s discretion.
5. ‘Top 8:’ There isn’t enough room on the profile for all the friends that a person’s likely to have, especially when those numbers start to climb into the hundreds, so MySpace limits to the ‘Top 8’. This can be further customized to contain fewer or less friends with the help of a profile editing tool, but the default 8 is generally more than sufficient for most users. Left to its own devices (i.e., if you choose not to edit your ‘top 8’ at all), MySpace will order your friends based on how long they’ve been members, as they did before the ‘Top 8’ option was made available about a year ago. Customization is very common, with the ‘Top 8’ usually denoting those closest to the user (in order from one to eight, naturally). Sound a bit like the habit that kids had in grade three of referring to people as their ‘third-best friend?’ Perhaps, but consider for a moment that others have ‘Top 8′ themes, ranging from “Hottest people on my friends’ list” to “People taller than me,” and every so often there comes the rare person who arranges their Top 8 based solely on pragmatism, for whom the Top 8 merely denotes those people whose pages are most often accessed.
6. Favourites: So you’ve searched through locals in your area, or looked though all those people with whom you went to school (available as a link on your homepage as soon as you add your schools), and found people you want to talk to, but lack the time/courage/words to do so at the moment? Find a band you kind of like, but don’t like them enough to add them as a friend? Simple solution: the ‘favourites’ feature. Just click on “add to favourites” on the person’s profile, and after system confirmation, they’ll be added to your ‘favourites’ section, where you can pull them up and have easy access to view their profile later. This feature is also useful when the individuals on your Top 8 are not those whose profiles you most often access for comments, messages, etc.
7. Groups: Groups are the easiest way for MySpace members to find others of like mind. Perhaps the key to networking, they allow members to make contacts that would normally elude them, whether ethnic, religious, or based on common interest (such as local hockey players, suburban spelunkers, independent film, or fans of a particular television show. A simple search can yield countless results, and this also allows for vital connections that further careers and allay the ennui haunting Generation X.
8. Bulletins: Need to send a message out to everyone on your friends list? Unwilling to spend the time to send them individual messages, but doubting that they’ll look at your page in time to see what it is you want to share? Behold the bulletin, which allows you to post content, images, or video. It will appear on the home page of each individual on your friends’ list, along with your name and the bulletin heading. Perfect for last minute announcements, surveys and quiz results, the bulletin is also the perfect place for funny political updates and news that everyone needs to know.
9. Time Managment Tools (Birthday Reminders/Calendar/Event Invitations): MySpace offers a neat feature for the forgetful (and busy) types – right below the “view all friends” link on the homepage is a link that says, “show upcoming birthdays,” which will list all friends with birthdays in the next week, complete with the date of birth. Never forget another birthday again! (At least not for anyone on your friends’ list.) The calendar feature allows you to add to your profile a list of upcoming events, such as birthdays, parties, sports events, concerts, or anything else that could be going on in your life. You can customize the calendar so that events are viewable to everyone, only you, or only you and your friends. Like the calendar, event invitations inform you and others of upcoming events, but do so by sending out a message to each specified user with the event information you provide. Commonly used by groups and bands, this feature is also ideal for parties and get-togethers.
10. Music: MySpace is indeed the friend of music, but it has close ties with the independent artists, who make up for what they lack in record contracts and money by being MySpace-strong, building a strong fan base and creating loyal street teams, which then take on a lot of the advertising on the band’s behalf. MySpace pages exist for most music artists now, signed and unsigned, and provide viewers with a sample of the band’s music, list of upcoming tour dates, and oftentimes links to the band’s homepage, merchandise sales, and contests. Songs by artists can also be added to member’s profiles, allowing for further advertising for the musicians and a little extra flair and personal commentary for the members.
With countless features and incredible ease-of-use, MySpace has secured a very safe position at the forefront of social networking sites.
