Living with MySpace

In the past several years, MySpace has become a cultural phenomenon, attracting both children and adults of all ages and backgrounds. So what makes MySpace so special? Why are more and more people signing up everyday? Is it a good thing? This is a guide to MySpace and how to use it, based on my personal experience with the site.

MySpace offers free accounts to anyone over 14 with a valid email address. Of course, the age requirement can easily be gotten around as long as you can accurately count back 14 years.

There are privacy settings that users can take advantage of. These include allowing only users who know your last name or email address to view your profile, requiring that comments be read and approved by you before appearing on your page, and allowing only approved users view your blog or pictures. These are great tools, especially for younger MySpace users.

Once you have an account set up, you can fully personalize your page. There is a profile that you can utilize to tell others about yourself, or you can leave any questions blank if you prefer not to answer them. You can change the colors, background, and layout of your page. There are tons of sites out there with free graphics for use on MySpace.

MySpace also gives you a place to upload and share photos. As long as you stick by the guidelines (no nudity or copy written material) you can basically put up any images you want. You can put a music player on your page as well as videos. You can post blogs as often as you like, and friends can even subscribe to these. You can post bulletins that go out to all of your friends at once. MySpace also has its own mail system, as well as an instant messenger so you can chat with your friends.