Myspace: "Where everybody knows your name..."

Myspace: “Where everybody knows your name…”
Let’s play a quick game of, “Name that place.” What website has high school students consumed? Where can preteens and parents claim unlikely ages? Where else can you find millions of bands, blogs and friends at your fingertips at any given moment? This magical place is none other than the ever growing web-community known as Myspace. Myspace.com© is ruled over by the site’s creator, “Tom” whose kingdom stretches as far as the internet can reach. This web-community offers blogs, forums, e-mail, profiles, band web-pages and CD previews. This virtual community provides users with personalized groups for sports, movies and careers: there is plenty to see when you’re in the mood to explore. There is a built-in Search engine to look up close friends or even long lost buddies from kindergarten. In these ways I’ve found that Myspace offers much more than the countless other blogging sites online; Xanga, Blogspot and Nexopia, these are three additional “communities” I’m currently subscribed to. While Myspace has numerous strengths, this web-community has its flaws as well; for these I find myself rating Myspace a 7-out-of-10.

There are literally thousands of blog sites online. The term 'blog' is derived from the words 'web-log,' a public journaling account where millions can view and comment on your belief, opinion or creative writing. Myspace is a very easy-to-use blog, while it’s probably not the most structured. The security invested in Myspace's blogs is very weak. Many users enjoy using Blog pages for creative writing and poetry, but without the knowledge of who has viewed our page, we'll never know if our writing has been plagiarized or reused (even if it’s properly cited). This is a ‘turn off’ for many users, and this is why many choose to have a Blog subscription elsewhere. A membership on blogger.com allows me to have access to anyone who copies my work; there’s an optional setting that allows or denies permission to quote my writing. In this way when someone tried to plagiarize a 'blogger' user's writing, the copied article links directly back to its origin. This makes me wonder why similar settings haven't been implemented on Myspace yet.

One of Myspace’s most attractive features is its price for subscription. As a member of Myspace, i really appreciate its free access. One of the many free features provided includes access to millions of your favorite 'up and coming' music artist from around the world. Bands display popular songs and permit personal messaging with the band, and some bands allow legal downloads. To spice up your profile, you can add their songs as back ground tunes or as a music video for some added 'curb appeal' to keep your visitors entertained. This ability to browse through millions of bands has created a very strong gravitational pull towards myspace.

There are more controversial and less flattering items associated with Myspace. One very important topic for parents is whether or not their child is safe in this digital preditor age. Sometimes the only way to protest their child is to avoid the questionable subject entirely. While paresnts are only looking out for their child's best interest, and it is their right to do so, there are necissary precautions that are available to counter these threats. Myspace offers privacy settings. For one, if you're under the age of 16, you automatically recieve strict visitor-profile-viewing priviledges. When browsing through the millions of profiles on Myspace, if you have your profile set to 'private,' someone must be your "friend" to view your entire page. In addition, when someone attempts to add you to their friends list, they must know your last name or e-mail address. One major down side to this system is that these restrictions are voluntary. I wish I could say these safety settings do all they’re intended to do, but myspace is based on an honor system. A 13 year old can pretend to be 26, and a 45-year-old can be 16. The safety settings won’t be effective if they aren’t being applied properly.

Overall, Myspace is a smart and easy-to-use community. The many feautues and entertainment i mentioned ake it just that much better than the other 'blogging' sites I'm a member of. As with any other website there are many possitives and negatives related to Myspace's usage. Uploading photos and music to your profile is a popular Myspace activity. While many who know of Myspace choose to steer clear simply because the idea of so much digital correspondence seems impersonal. Ofcourse, everyone is free to express their own opinion, but there are reasons i give Myspace a solid 7 out of 10: lax privacy settings and mediocre depth in blogging. I would recommend Myspace to anyone over 16 whose interests include networking, profiling, making new friends, listening to new bands and blogging. Myspace is the new place to be, "Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came..." Have you been Myspacing lately?