MySpace!
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The creators of MySpace have hosted many parties in Hollywood, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Hawaii, and McAllen, Texas to support the site. The headquarters is in Los Angeles, but the parent company is headquartered in New York City.
MySpace is also home to various independent musicians and independent filmmakers who post songs and short films directly on their profile. These songs and films can also be embedded in other profiles. Because of the high popularity, mainstream musicians and filmmakers alike have entered this trend as well.
MySpace History
Before the creation of the current social networking website, the MySpace.com domain name was registered in 1998 to an online storage and file sharing firm. Registration was free and users were able to obtain a small disk quota which would gradually increase if they referred new members to the site. Due to slow service and a lack of revenue, the original site shut down and sold all of its users' information in 2001.The current MySpace service was founded in July 2003 by Tom Anderson (an alumnus of both UC Berkeley and UCLA), the current president, Chris DeWolfe (a graduate of USC's Marshall School of Business), the current CEO, and a small team of programmers. It was partially owned by Intermix Media, which was bought in July 2005 for $580 million by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (the parent company of Fox Broadcasting and other media enterprises). In January 2006, Fox announced plans to launch a UK version of MySpace in a bid to "tap into the UK music scene".
On July 22, 2006, the MySpace servers encountered a major power outage. The site has been up and down since the power outage while the servers were upgraded. The following message was placed on the site on July 23rd:
Hey everyone! there's been a power outage in our data center. we're in the process of fixing it right now, so sit tight. hopefully we'll be back online within the hour. its 6:40pm PST now. wanna place a bet? -Tom
While visiting the temporarily-down website, visitors were given the opportunity to play Pac-Man using a Flash-based version of the game. This game also replaces the main page when the servers are down for regular maintenance.
Contents of a MySpace profile
Each profile contains two standard "blurbs": "About Me" and "Who I'd Like to Meet" sections. Profiles also can contain sections about standard interests. Usually it's found under the "General" section of one's profile. A profile also contains under the "General" section, areas for specific personal details, such as Marital Status, Physical Appearance, and Income. However, these features have the ability of not being displayed on the page by simply not filling them in. Profiles also contain a blog with standard fields for content, emotion, and media. MySpace also supports uploading images. One of the images can be chosen to be the "default image," the image that will be seen on the profile's main page, search page, and as the image that will appear to the side of the user's name on comments, messages, etc. MySpace has also added the option to upload videos that are played via a standalone Flash player.Also displayed is a count of a user's friends, as well as a "Top Friends" area. Users can choose a certain number of friends to be displayed on their profile in the "Top Friends" area. The "Top Friends" used to be restricted to eight friends. People bypassed this limitation by using third-party tools to emulate a "Top X" friends. Currently, MySpace allows up to 24 friends to be displayed in the "Top Friends" area.
Below the "Top Friends" area (by default) is the "comments" section, wherein the user's friends may leave comments for all viewers to read. Although comments are publicly accessible, many users leave personal comments regardless, allowing any reader to know their business. MySpace users have the option to delete any comment and/or require all comments to be approved before posting.
MySpace profile layouts can have the entire look changed with HTML and/or CSS. Many different "MySpace editors" are available from other websites for those who do not know HTML. MySpace gives users total flexibility to modify a user page. Using HTML and CSS, the vast majority of the profile can be changed to a user's preference. Users also have the option to add embedded music into their profiles via MySpace Music, a service that allows bands to post songs on their respective profiles. Videos and any other content can also be added.
Criticism of MySpace
MySpace Accessibility
There are sometimes accessibility problems on users' profiles, stemming from the fact that MySpace is set up so that anyone can customise the layout and colors of their profile page with virtually no restrictions. As MySpace users may not be skilled web developers, this can cause some problems. Poorly constructed MySpace profiles could potentially freeze up web browsers due to malformed CSS coding, or as a result of users placing many high bandwidth objects such as videos, graphics and Flash in their profiles.In addition, the MySpace community is growing. New features have been put on the page, such as video and song sharing, through streaming media. The unprecedented amount of MySpace users joining daily due to these new features, and its media publicity, means that more users are online at any given time. This increase in usage sometimes slows down the servers and may result in a "Server Too Busy" error message for some users who are on at peak hours, or a variety of any other error messages throughout the day.
MySpace is notorious for the degree of freedom it allows users, allowing them to add videos and songs to their profile, as well as allowing them to abuse HTML in nearly any way possible, provided that the advertisements aren't covered up by CSS or using other means. This freedom provided to the mainstream popularity that MySpace has earned in recent months has led to claims by MySpace detractors that the site encourages poor web design habits, as many MySpace pages are smothered in poorly-written HTML and, oftentimes, multiple videos and soundfiles playing at the same time, subsequently causing some viewers' browsers to crash.
MySpace in Educational Settings
Many schools and public libraries in the US and the UK have begun to restrict access to MySpace because it has become "such a haven for student gossip and malicious comments". Some private schools have even attempted to ban their pupils from accessing MySpace at home.Recently, it been rumored that certain universities have begun searching MySpace in order to discover evidence of illegal drug and/or alcohol use among potential applicants.
In 2006, Del Mar Community College blocked all access to MySpace. Network administrators cited network strain from excessive MySpace traffic as the reason for blocking the social network. According to Del Mar's chief of technology, MySpace was consuming 40% of the college's daily internet bandwidth, impeding on the college's web-based courses.
MySpace and Businesses
Due to the high use of bandwidth and misuse of the computers in various retail stores, businesses are taking measures to block out the website to prevent customers from using their demonstration computers for personal purposes only. One such blocked site was MySpace Videos, which was blocked from a large collection of networks and universities, for creating an excessive amount of bandwidth usage from videos. Additionally, some routers are providing firmware updates that include the automatic banning of MySpace.Companies with computers available for public use (like Apple Computer, in their Apple Stores) have sometimes prevented access to MySpace to prevent customers from using excessive bandwidth, although Apple Computer reversed its decision and now allows customers to visit MySpace.
MySpace and Professionalism
The Chicago Tribune's RedEye printed an article concerning MySpace and an individual's search for employment. It was argued that young college graduates compromise their chances of starting careers because of the content they post on their accounts. For instance, a visitor does not need an account to browse for users using information that is readily available on resumes and applications, such as a ZIP code and age. A potential employer can utilize information provided by the applicant on MySpace's browse component. Thus, the employer may not hire a highly qualified candidate because he or she maintains an account suggesting rambunctious behavior. Moreover, employees were said to be putting their careers at risk because they maintain blogs that criticize their respective companies and organizations.MySpace Security
MySpace allows registering users to be as young as 14. Profiles with ages set to 14 to 15 years are automatically private. Users whose ages are set at 16 or over do have the option to restrict their profiles, as well as the option of merely allowing certain personal data to be restricted to people other than those on their 'friends list'. The full profile of or messaging someone under the age of 18 is restricted to their direct MySpace friends only.As a result of the bad-publicity of MySpace, Fox says that they will post public service ads warning children of those dangers. Also, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has called on MySpace to raise the age limit of their users in order to better protect children by restricting their use. Republican Pennsylvania Representative Mike Fitzpatrick has also introduced legislation (H.R.5319) to ban usage of the site in public places, such as schools and libraries, and to have the power to tap into usage of the website in those places.
Recently, MySpace has had a number of news reports stating that teenagers have found ways around the restrictions set by MySpace, and have been the target of online predators . In response, MySpace assures parents that the site is safe for people of all ages. Starting around late June 2006, MySpace users over 18 will no longer be able to add users under 18 as friends unless he/she knows the user's full name and/or email address, and vice versa.
MySpace Musicians' Rights & The User Agreement
Until June 2006, there was a building and great concern amongst musicians, artists and bands on MySpace owing to the fine print within the user agreement that read; "you hereby grant to MySpace.com a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services."The fine print brought particular concern as the agreement was being made with Murdoch's News Corp. Songwriter Billy Bragg brought the issue to the attention of the media during the first week of June 2006. Jeff Berman, a MySpace spokesman swiftly responded by saying, "Because the legalese has caused some confusion, we are at work revising it to make it very clear that MySpace is not seeking a license to do anything with an artist's work other than allow it to be shared in the manner the artist intends"
By June 27th, MySpace had lived up to their word and ammended the user agreement with, "MySpace.com does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post to the MySpace Services. After posting your Content to the MySpace Services, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose."
MySpace Legal issues
A 14-year old girl sued MySpace, alleging that another user, Pete Solis, 19, lied to her about his true identity. This, according to the girl, resulted in her being sexually assaulted by Solis. The lawsuit has raised questions regarding the measures MySpace has taken to protect users, specifically those who are under the age of 18.The lawsuit, which seeks $30 million US, states that MySpace has "absolutely no meaningful protections or security measures to protect underage users."
In a separate incident, two New York City teenagers were charged with computer hacking and attempted extortion of MySpace, after both had hacked into the user database and stole personal information, and threatened to share the process of breaking in, unless MySpace paid them $150,000 in US dollars. Both teens were arrested by undercover Los Angeles detectives, posing as MySpace employees.
MySpace celebrities
MySpace has led to the creation of MySpace celebrities, popular individuals who have attracted hundreds of thousands of "friends", which may lead to coverage in other media. The June 2006 issue of Playboy magazine, for example, featured a "Women of MySpace" nude pictorial (though ironically, an article somewhat critical of the website ran in the same issue). Among the women featured were members Jessica DiFeo, Carrie Vaughn, Ana Georgean, Jeska Vardinski, Heather Lynn, Chantal Alexandria, Betty Lipstick, Heather Lutz, and Brittany Fuchs. Through MySpace, such people are able to distribute information regarding their activities, events they are hosting, or projects they are working on (e.g. albums or clothing lines). Though some of these individuals have remained only Internet celebrities, others have been able to jump to television, magazines, and radio. Examples include Christine "ForBiddeN" Dolce's appearance on The Tyra Banks Show and Tila Tequila's cover for Stuff & Maxim magazine. Furthermore, MySpace's music section has helped many amateur bands progress. This was shown by English band Arctic Monkeys, who owe some of their success to the publicity that MySpace generated for them. When asked about the popularity of the band's MySpace site in an interview with Prefix Magazine, the band pointed out that they did not even know what MySpace was, and that the site had originally been created by their fans. Lily Allen's new fame is also due in part to her being promoted on MySpace. Also, G4's hit show "Attack of the Show!" has a 'MySpace Girl of the Week' segment. Some widely known celebrities such as Salma Hayek, Halle Berry, Laetitia Casta, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lulu (singer), Brooke Burke, Michelle Branch, Peyton and Eli Manning, Vince Young, Reggie Bush, Bob Sturm, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Weird Al Yankovic, and In Flames are members of MySpace.
