Social networking sites have become
an extremely popular online phenomenon
in recent years. Myspace.com, the most
popular of these sites today, is estimated
to have over 40 million registered members.
Myspace.com is structured very similar
to an earlier networking service called
Friendster, which is a kind of spin
off of online dating sites. Users
create their own 'profile', which
acts as their own individual web page
that other members can view. People
can upload photos, and write a description
of who they are, what they are interested
in, what kind of work they do, where
they go to school, etc.
The networking aspect to sites like
Myspace.com and Friendster is what
sets them aside from dating sites,
such as Match.com. After joining,
you have the option of inviting other
members to your own personal network
of friends. Many people invite friends,
coworkers, and business associates
to their network. Once you've developed
your own network, you can then conduct
searches of members within the networks
of your friends, or what's called
your 'extended network'.
Similar to the 'six degrees of separation'
concept, members of rapidly become
interconnected with each other. Even
just adding a handful of friends to
your network dramatically opens up
the number of people in your extended
network, allowing you to meet people
you have some connection to but may
have never met otherwise. The idea
being, on sites like Myspace or Friendster
you can be sure to be interacting
with friends of friends as opposed
to total strangers, a thought that
scares many people away from meeting
people online.
Friendster was started in 2002, and
early on became very successful in
drawing in members. However, it was
initially plagued by slow loading
times and various bugs that limited
its success. Myspace.com launched
in the summer of 2003, and within
months had surpassed Friendster in
numbers of users. Even though Friendster
has corrected the majority of its
bugs and has reduced its slow loading
times, Myspace.com continues to dominate
the market.
Myspace.com is known for offering
users more options in the customization
of their profiles. Users can upload
music or videos, and with a little
HTML savvy can completely redesign
the graphical interface of their Myspace
page. A host of 'Myspace editors'
are now available as well, making
customization a more usable friendly
task accessible to people without
programming knowledge.
Social networking services like Myspace.com
continue to boom in popularity, bringing
in new members every day, and it is
clear that this is an online phenomenon
that will continue on into the future.
