Move over, Friendster. There’s a hotter site on the Web.
Teens are turning to Myspace — which boasts a user base of more than 14 million — to keep in touch.
Unlike popular blogging sites Xanga and Livejournal, Myspace is more about the person than the content. Users post pictures and comments or join communities — users who share the same interests — all to meet new people.
“For instance, I might meet a random person at a party and not really know them but see them on Myspace,” said Tiffany Wang, a senior at Aragon High School in San Mateo. (happened to me at least a couple of times…)
“But I can message them through Myspace and become better friends.”
Using Myspace is simple: Log onto the Web site and sign up. In less than two minutes, the new user can be customizing the Web page with colors, videos and pictures.
Many people have used the site to rediscover old friends.
“It connects you to people who you might not have seen in years,” Wang said. “I find friends from elementary school on here.”
Susannah Stern, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of San Diego, said examples like these are not uncommon and, in fact, are beneficial to teens.
“Teens seek connections and confirmations through other teens,” she said. “Myspace allows teens (teens, ha!) to freely experiment in their writings and expression knowing that they will receive positive comments.”
The site encourages interaction. Users post lists of fellow users on their friends section.
The comments section lets users post opinions on anything from the layout of a user’s Myspace page to how good it was to see him or her at last week’s school dance. ("school dance", ha! again.)
The site even has a section where users can post their picture to let others rate their looks on a scale of one to 10.
“A lot of these sites are about young people connecting,” Stern said. “It’s the sense of being in touch” that is appealing to teens.
Some teens take those connections one step further, adding floods of friends to their friend space as a sort of popularity contest. (those people are dumb)
“I think it’s stupid when people just have a bunch of `fake’ friends,” Wang said. “I only add people I know, for the most part.”
Still, Myspace is more than a personals site. Some musicians are creating pages dedicated to their work. The site dedicates a section of its home page to “Myspace Music,” where unsigned and popular bands alike are profiled with links to their Myspace sites. (check out steve’s band www.myspace.com/yearsofabuse)
The site often posts songs by popular artists. It even released a single by the rock group Oasis that could be heard only on myspace.com/oasis.
Ally Weiss, a senior at Woodside High School, uses Myspace to spread the word about her band, Taylor Lee.
“It’s a great business technique,” Weiss said. `And it’s free.”
But some Myspace users have run into problems. While users can’t be on a friend list without permission, comments pages are open to anyone who stumbles across them. (you can set your profile to have to approve comments before they are posted, and you have the ability to delete)
Bennet Ratcliff, the spokesman for Myspace, said that all users agree to not post offensive messages or pictures, but it’s almost impossible to keep a vigilant eye on millions of Web pages.
Weiss came across the site of someone who was impersonating her.
“They had pictures of me and my friends and even used my name, Ally,” she said. “They copied my format and greatly insulted my friends, myself and my family.”
But Weiss realizes that it’s all part of the Internet social scene.
“It was hurtful, but it also made me laugh because I don’t know who has enough time to sit around and criticize others,” she said.
