Myspace is Your Space

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am a fan of my Facebook, but I also have a Myspace account that I never use. What is the difference between Myspace and Facebook? And why do the crowds vary so much as well as reputation?
Myspace was first criticized for the sex scandals and online meeting that had been arranged with teenage girls, but then got amazing praise for enabling and encouraging "prosumers" within the music industry.
In 2008, a study showed that there were 11.6 billion page views in October (up from 9-billion in September), displacing eBay as the fourth-busiest site on the net, with more page views than any Internet destination except Yahoo, AOL, and MSN. (Nowpublic.com)
Now, in 2009, Facebook has surpassed Myspace by having 10 million more visitors each month. Is it becasue of the origination of Facebook? Or is it because Myspace was the first networking site of its kind and had to take the fall for the mistakes others were making, giving it a negative connotation?
Myspace is more of a music website than Facebook, and Myspace created buzz early on that was so new, it was still controversial. The idea of Myspace posed threats, whereas, once the negative hype and problems were reported on, Facebook had a chance to do a networking site "the right way".
What is to be said for self inflicted fame, such as Tila Tequila, and starting as a nobody on a website?
Tila Nguyen, who is originally from Singapore, moved to Houston, Texas with her parents at age one. She began using drugs at age 11, and after getting kicked out of boarding school, dealing with gangs, and struggling to find herself, she ran away from home at age 16. After high school, she was discovered by a Playboy scout and became Playboys first Asian Girl of the Week in 2002. She has been involved in many different areas of Hollywood since her appearance in Playboy, but most people know her from her Myspace claim-to-fame, of being the Most Popular Person on Myspace in 2006. Her Mysapce fame then led to her own TV show on MTV, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.
Tila is just one example of many "nobodies" who are trying to become "somebodies" in the online world. Who would have thought that after all her attempts- Playboy, two bands that are now broken up that no one could tell you the name of, TV host of Pants-Off-Dance-Off, etc.- that it would be a Myspace page and the accepting of anyone who requested her, that would lead to stardom.
Along with creating fame, Myspace also endorses it. Celebrities have Myspace pages for fun or for publicity reasons, but Myspace has also been a muse for artists as well.
A few years ago, I was a back-up dancer for the after party for the Up In Smoke Tour featuring Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Dr.Dre. I danced for an artist named Kidd Kazmeo, who now has a Myspace with all of his songs, one of which is named "The Myspace Song". The song has about 3,000 hits, and is all about the phenomenon of the Myspace world. Not only did Myspace help me relocate Kidd, since it has been quite a long time since we have seen each other, it also enabled me to listen to his new tracks and see where his music has taken him.
Although Myspace can allow people or fans to follow and track down artists, celebrities, or old friends, how authentic can we really say these "friends" are? Does Tila Tequila know one-third of her friends at all? Or is it just about registered members and user names? For example, I love Kendra from The Girls Next Door- I think she is a bad ass who would be awesome to have at a party. I am friends with her on Myspace, but why should that really matter?! I think it's cool, don't get me wrong, but shouldn't there be a different category for REAL friends? How can someone say they have over 3,000 friends online, when they only know, maybe 75-100 of them on a first name basis? Does this change the value of the word "friend"? Or is it just understood that the term "friend" is used more loosely online than in real life?
Critics are saying that Myspace is responsible for more teenage activity, whereas Facebook is responsible for college aged addictions. I have to admit, the majority of my friends have not checked their Mysapce accounts in months, but check their Facebook profile at least three times a day. It is also interesting in class, whenever laptops are up, there is occasional note taking, but the blue and white border gives the profile checking away every time. Why is it always Facebook I see in classes? Is it that our generation is literally outgrowing Myspace? Or is it just used for other mediums more now?
Maybe those of us who have just used Mysapce for social networking aren't really the sites main target group anyways. Myspaces allows so much more creativity and publicity opportunities than Facebook, and is said to be much more user friendly for the music minded users. There are more than eight million bands on Myspace now, and the number is only increasing.
Although Myspace will always have a place in our hearts as the first site to introduce us to social networking and the addiction that lies within, perhaps I should stop looking at the site as a "friend finder" and start admiring the site for the music world it has created. Maybe then I will find a new respect for the networking capabilities, and it will step out from second place, and be side by side with Facebook in a new category of it's own.