Seven was to Use MySpace to Increase Your Audience and Promote Your Content

MySpace: An insanely, and somewhat surprisingly, popular concept. A free way to create a website has been tried before by Angelfire, GeoCities, Tripod, and many others. However, MySpace gave it a twist: limited web development options and an emphasis on networking.

MySpace is used by all walks of society. Today, America knows if a politician will run for office by whether or not they have a MySpace page. Musicians use the service to get their music to their audience, and now citizen journalists and bloggers can do the same.

1. It doesn't matter if your MySpace page "looks professional." What is important is that it's not overloaded with noises and scripts. These devices can be annoying to users and in other cases can disable their web browser. If you are not familiar with coding, employ the Google example of "Less is More."

2. Add as many friends as possible. The larger the number of friends, the larger your potential audience is. Don't forget that a percent of the initial audience will share your articles with their friends.

3. Use MySpace's Blog Feature. By posting a blog entry on MySpace, all of your friends can see that there is a new blog post from you. Post a snippet, perhaps as much as two thirds, of an article in the blog. Then use a hyperlink to redirect readers to the Associated Content page. (I will reference this as the 2/3 method.) To learn more about creating hyperlinks, check out HTML Goodies.

4. Use MySpace's Bulletin Feature. In MySpace, a bulletin sends a message to all of your friends. Employ the aforementioned 2/3 method. New bulletins from friends show up on every user's home page.

5. Join MySpace Groups. Did you write about a particular topic? Look and see if there is a group that might be interest in that topic, then employ the 2/3 method. Note: It also helps to be active in the group.

6. Post in MySpace Forums. MySpace Forums are large public areas of MySpace that several users post information and share ideas. Look to see of similar topics to your article are already being discussed. Then, step in and offer to share the article that you found. Post a few lines and a link, and let the hits come rolling in!

7. Add Comments. Add comments to your friend's MySpace pages that link back to your original article. This is a two-step process. It is unadvisable to spam the comments of actual friends. So, search for MySpace pages that are relevant to your content that have hundreds or thousands of friends, then make a friends request. For example, write an article about the presidential election, then add all of the candidates and profiles that support both parties, and post a comment on each page where a number of users are likely to view it. Then, when HTML is enabled, an effective method is to post an image in a comment and then link the image back to the article. Another effective method is to post a few lines of interesting quotes from your article that all link back to the article. If HTML is not an option, use the latter method and be sure to post the URL.

MySpace has long since faded from being a place where friends go to chit chat and share their latest dating exploits. It has evolved as an outlet to the public and a place where serious networking takes place.