Tom Anderson is the most popular person in America, at least from a MySpace perspective. Although Anderson, the founder of the social networking site myspace.com, has nearly 70 million friends, it is safe to say that this number better serves as a running count of users than friends.
Since its inception in 2003, myspace.com has exponentially grown into the fifth most trafficked web site in the United States and has spawned countless regional and national online communities, offering an alternative to the traditional concept of socialization.
Anderson, in an interview with Buzztone.com, offered his opinion on the success of MySpace: “Well, there’s something old here and something new,” he said.
“The old is that it’s simply socializing. Most everyone loves to socialize, and that’s what MySpace and other sites let you do. What’s new, of course, is the way you socialize, via the computer. The mainstream is realizing that socializing online is not just for ‘computer nerds.’
The standard format of a MySpace profile includes personal information sections, such as “about me,” music, movies, picture and video indexes, and blogging, facilitating the process of finding other users with common interests and friends.
There are approximately 3,000 ETSU users and 1,500 ETSU alumni users as of early April 2006.
“It is a complete way to express yourself and meet people without an ‘approach,'” said Joshua Maples, a sophomore in radiology. “There was no ‘Hi, my name is’ or “What do you like to do?’ We skipped that friendship line and jumped straight into the ‘finding things in common’ stage.”
ETSU alumni Josh Deyton said, “I have several real-life friends that I would never have met without Myspace. Myspace actually helped me get a connection for my current job, and for my current girlfriend.”
Perhaps what sets MySpace apart from other competitive online networking sites, such as Friendster.com and Facebook.com, is the array of customization and potential mass exposure that is offered.
It has become very popular for this reason with aspiring and established artists.
Christopher Richards, vocalist and guitarist for Q and Not U, a band that had critical and commercial success while on Dischord Records out of Washington, D.C., is now using his account – myspace.com/rispaulric – to promote his new solo project.
“Most of these people were aware of my previous band, but I think MySpace has eased the ‘finding out about it’ process,” Richards said. “It’s also helped people reach me regarding shows and other opportunities. I think the real triumph of MySpace is that it makes musicians so much more accessible to their fans.”
Lauren Rasch, a senior in psychology, employs her account – myspace.com/jamesinmay – to expose and sell her original artwork.
“MySpace has been an amazing outlet for the exposure of my work,” she said. “I have sold more artwork to more people on MySpace than I have on my web site even though my web site has been up longer than I have had a MySpace account. I get individual buyers fairly often and have gotten many messages from businesses asking to sell my work in their stores.”
Curt Strodtbeck, a senior in digital media, uses his account – myspace.com/heartskullkid – as an extension and example of his studies. “I use it to meet fellow digital media students and as a utility for developing my own layouts,” he said. “I care more about using my web site to hone my skills rather than just using it to connect with other people.”
For those not so musically or html-coding inclined, MySpace allows profile songs and offers the program Thomas’s MySpace Editor, a quick and easy way to edit and customize a profile layout. There are also numerous sites, such as myspacesupport.com, that offer free, pre-made layouts that range from unique color combinations to sports and music themes.
Whether new MySpace friends become incorporated into real life social circles or are kept strictly for Internet fun is the choice of the individual user, but more and more those barriers are being blurred. People are finding MySpace as the 21st century alternative to the time-consuming task of meeting new people, and with 70 million users and counting, those new people are abundant.

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