Shoutlife.com - the Clean Version of Myspace

Recently, I wrote an article about the advantages of using Myspace as a promotional tool for those looking to market themselves as either writers, artists, comedians, or even actors. Indeed, this free service combines the best of all Internet worlds: blogging, instant messaging, email, and with its comment and "event invitation" features, Myspace provides an awesome, FREE service that allows any individual to reach and contact an unlimited amount of individuals, which is ideal, considering how the Internet is fast becoming an important tool for those in creative arts to promote themselves.

However, as useful a tool as Myspace is, there are some flaws; especially if you don't necessarily like to be bombarded with images of seductive, scantily clad women every time you log on and off, and how many of us really like receiving friend requests from some moron who's named themselves "Dirty Gurl"? That stuff certainly is entertaining in that it proves there are lot of people out there who are bigger losers than I am, but combine that with the sensual dating ads, people who apparently think it's cool to post a picture of folks having sex or flipping the 'bird' on my page, and all my poor Myspace friends getting hacked and having bulletins like "get free ring tones" or "check out these hot videos now!" streaming from their pages, and every now and then I wished I could take a break from the seething steaminess that is Myspace.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not about to give up Myspace all-together, with 480 friends and counting, (most of these folks have added me, I'm not one of those "popularity seekers" Myspace bulletins like to rant and rave about), I've met a lot of other writers, editors, authors, publishers, and magazines through Myspace. As a book reviewer, I've been contacted by authors looking for reviews of their novels strictly through my Myspace page, so it's certainly proved its worth. The problem is the "content control" of Myspace is sparse and limited, despite their claims to the contrary. In some ways, Myspace is the victim of its own success - it's probably grown too big too fast for Tom - whomever he may be - to really keep tabs on "inappropriate content".

Myspace does raise a lot of issues, and recently I've been searching for some cleaner alternatives, especially with my background as a middle school English teacher. I see a lot of my students wanting something online that is cool, interactive; allowing them to pal around with classmates out of school, but I cringe at the thought of my thirteen year old students being active on Myspace. That, and they always ask me for my Myspace and want to add me as a friend, and I honestly tell them "No", simply because it's impossible for me to confirm that the friends three -times removed from my friends don't have inappropriate material on their Myspace.

I searched around for a few other alternatives, and at first I didn't find a whole lot. There is Xanga, and I do have a Xanga page, but honestly, its options are limited and hard to configure. Then I found Xianz, which is a Christian blogging service, but really its options seemed a little lame, and, once again, difficult to get a handle on. I was about to give up, when one of my Myspace friends, suspense author and editor of Infuze Magazine Robin Parrish bulletined me about a new blogging service called Shoutlife.com.

Shoutlife.com takes all the best parts of Myspace and hacks out all the objectionable stuff, creating a clean, smut-free atmosphere. Though it's labeled a "Christian Blog Community", there's no "statement of faith" required to join, and it's free for everyone - but these folks take their content-monitoring seriously. Shoutlife is managed by four different people, so the administration is much more "hands-on" than Myspace. Now, that may be a problem for some folks, but for those of us who are tired of True's racy dating ads, messages from "Luv Bunny", free ring-tone offers and porn posted on our Myspace pages, this is a boon from heaven above.

Let's talk about features, because I'm sure people are asking: "That's great, but is Shoutlife really all that effective? I could always close my eyes to those dating ads, configure my Myspace page for comment approval, and delete 'Horny Chick's' emails." Well, to be honest, it does depend on what you're trying to market - as a predominately Christian community, Shoutlife probably wouldn't be the proper venue for your "Scream Death Rock" band, horror novels, (of course, that depends, as the 'Christian Horror' label continues to emerge), or glamor photography/art. However, if you're just looking for a place to chat, blog, and promote your work without feeling like you have to take a shower or confess infidelity after you log off, Shoutlife is the place to do it.

Let's take a minute to break down the tools of Shoutlife, and compare them to Myspace:

1. Profile Creation/Editing: editing or creating your profile is far and above easier on Shoutlife than on Myspace. All the fields are easier to manipulate, and unlike Myspace - where, if you DON'T have a working knowledge of HTML Tags, your bio just comes in one big blobby paragraph, no matter how many times you 'Tab' and hit 'Enter', Shoutife works with Tags, but you don't need them to make your page look nice. Also, all the sections of editing your profile are tabbed entries, very easy to navigate through.

2. Color Schemes/Appearance Options: It's FAR easier to color code all the different parts of your Shoutlife page - comments section, blog, biographical intro, friends list - than on Myspace. There's no need to visit "Myspace Hacker" and have to endure that stupid Skull & Crossbones icon up in the corner, because you won't need that much HTML knowledge to configure the color of your Shoutlife page. The interface is easy to work with - you simply enter the HTML color codes - easy to find anywhere on the 'net - in the corresponding entry fields, click 'Update', and you can instantly see your page's color scheme. By far, I think this is one of my favorite Shoutlife features. Also, if you ARE HTML and CSS literate, you CAN do some funky things with scrolling backgrounds and CSS code on your Shoutlife - dare I say, even easier than on Myspace. A good place to get codes for ANYTHING web oriented is Boogiejack.com - and those codes will work on Shoutlife.

3. Bulletins & Blogs: One of Myspace's best features is its bulletin feature, which allows users to instantly let folks on their friends list know what's going on, send updates about new accomplishments, publication news, concert info, etc. Shoutlfie has this as well - putting it WAY above both Xianz and Xanga - and they have something Myspace doesn't - automatic notification of your friends' most recent blog entry. On Myspace, I don't enter personal blogs very much - there's so much stuff out there, unless I bulletin relentlessly and go visit all my friends and post "Come look at my blog" on their page, they don't come. On Shoutlife, the instant you post a blog, it goes out to all your friends. Boom. Bang. No pathetic, needy-sounding comments or bulletins saying "Pweeze come look at my blog, pwetty pweeze!". This, in my estimation, is another one of Shoutlife's best options.

4. Comment Control/Email/: It's much easier to stay on top of your comments on Shoutlife, because they have a simple 'Delete' button right on your page, (visible only to you, obviously), so you can delete comments right then and there, without having to go to a different section. And, just like Myspace, you can upload photos, invite friends, join groups and organizations, email friends.

A final note; for those who are Christians - whether you are 'born again', Catholic, or some of other denomination - marketing your work as a writer or musician is top notch on Shoutlife. Though Myspace DOES have separate types of accounts for comedians and musicians/bands, they really don't have anything for writers. Shoutlife has this - you can not only create an "Author/Writer" account, but in the creation of your profile, you can easily market your novels - uploading cover pictures, creating links to online places to purchase your novels, and being featured as a "Shoutlife" author or musician - so instead of seeing those practically naked young women every time you log onto Myspace, you see the most recently featured musician or author instead.

Also, Shoutlife is NEW - only months old, honestly - so joining now would be getting in on the ground floor of something that's going to be awesome. Hundreds of folks are joining, and I've done literally nothing, and my friends list has grown all on its own! So, for those of us who are tired of "Luvy Huney" and dating ads - create an account with Shoutlife, and feel GOOD about blogging for a change.