MySpace Mania: What Makes This Site Such a Big Deal?

MySpace is a social networking website. You can get connected with thousands and thousands of people around the world. It's not just for teens either. Many people in their 20's on up use it as well. The key to enjoying and utilizing the site is knowing how to get access the information and protecting your safety.

I joined MySpace about a year ago after seeing a flyer for a band I wanted to check out. In order to browse any information on the site, I had to create an account, for free. I did that. At first I just had a plain generic page, just so I could browse. I wasn't really sure if this was something I wanted to get involved in or not. Then a couple of my friends said they had profiles on MySpace, so I looked them up. When I saw how cool their profiles looked, I immediately started making mine look better. I added a background, then some music, then a music video. Then I changed it so there was a rotating list of music videos that always played. I added pictures to my site and a little bit more personal information, such as my high school I graduated from, whether I was single, married, etc. and things of that nature. I had a few friends on my list by this time. I started checking out their friend's lists and those people's websites. I got more ideas of what else I could do to my own site. You can add games, slide shows of photos, personal videos, and even a blog.

As I got more familiar with the site, I started looking up old friends and classmates to see if I could find them to see what they were up to. I found a lot more people than I even expected. You can attempt to view anybody's site that you stumble upon. There is the option of blocking your site though, so only people on your friend's list can access it. Then if you don't add someone to your friends list, they are out of luck on viewing your information. I got in contact with many people I hadn't seen in a while. Also, I joined many of my favorite bands and bars friends lists.

You have the option of posting bulletins on you page. Anyone who is on your friends list will see your bulletin within minutes of it posting. This is also a way that many individuals choose to send chain-like letters. The kind that say if you don't repost the bulletin under your own bulletins, then something very bad will happen to you in a specified amount of time. I try not to repost those kinds of bulletins.

Furthermore, MySpace is also a great way to promote yourself or your band. If you have a band, you can post future gig or concert dates, new songs, scheduled appearances, and so on. People can add your song to their own page so anytime anyone visits their page; your song will be playing. It's a great way to get exposure for up and coming bands, with all the traffic that MySpace can generate.

Another great advantage of using MySpace is the ability of meeting the new love of you life. It's like a free match making website. You can search for people in a number or ways. These include, ZIP code, sex, name, school, graduating year, their group affiliation, e-mail address, or by their display name. Not everyone states on their profile if they are single or not or if they are there looking for love or friends, but you can always take the chance and just start messaging back and forth with someone. It saves you a lot of money compared to sites such as eHarmony or Match.com.

In addition to all the great things there is to say about MySpace, I must also touch on the drawback of it. Since you have the option of putting so much information about yourself out there, you also increase your risk of some creep coming along and using it for objectionable reasons. This can vary from people trying to stalk you and find out where you live and work to perverts praying on children. An easy way to avoid all of this is to do what I have mentioned above, place your profile to private status so only those people that are approved to be your friends are allowed access to your profile. Don't add anybody unless you know who they are if you do this. If you have children, monitor what they do while on MySpace and anywhere else they may go on the internet. See who is on their friends list. Make sure they know when chatting and messaging with others not to give out personal information and tell them the dangers of it.

In conclusion, MySpace is a great tool to get connected many people rather they are old classmates, old friends, or new friends you just meet. There is a lot of information out there, so take you time and enjoy exploring it all. Just make sure to take the proper precautions to ensure the people you are chatting with are not trying to get more out of you than just friendship or companionship.