A nasty case of MySpace

MySpace has become like a virus… infecting everyone, and it’s spread through human-to-human contact. Friends knowingly transmit the disease to friends. “Get a MySpace. We can keep in touch.” I am not innocent in this epidemic.

Generation X, Y, and Z have become overwhelmed with MySpace hysteria. Many new bands do not bother creating web sites anymore, because of the ease of creating a MySpace site, and its access to their target demographic. Actors, comedians, and even political candidates have MySpace pages. It’s the ultimate self-promotion, and it’s so easy! No need to learn HTML anymore. Cut and paste from a few easy-to-use web sites, and you can have a custom-looking site in minutes.

But why? Why this proliferation of MySpace pages? For every moment that you refresh a page, more and more people have joined. Some people do it to meet people, especially romantic prospects. Others use it to promote their businesses or parties. Still others have social causes to support. And then there are some who do it out of sheer vanity. “Here I am! On the Internet! I’ll never be famous, but people all over the world can see blurry self-portraits taken with my cell phone!”

MySpace has become a calculated chaos designed to impress the masses. The home page of the site is a conglomeration of videos, advertising, “new members,” and promotions. It is almost unrecognizable as the networking web site it was originally intended to be. It’s only a matter of time before the commercialization of MySpace follows the nature of all things- from radio to television to magazines.

The motivations are varied. But result is the same. Self-promotion feeding self-absorption in an attempt to convey not the identity that one has, but the identity one wishes to have. Because in the end, the MySpace page is not for oneself, but for all to see. It’s impossible to forget that the world is watching. One is limited by the thing that seems most liberating- space.