Myspace: The Birth of Modern Social Media
Social Media has become integrated into almost every aspect of our lives. Our smartphones vibrate and light up with notifications from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat all day, multiple times a day. All six social networking apps on my phone are similar but very different. There is one similarity that most, if not all, modern social networks have: they would not exist if not for Myspace.
I chose to highlight Myspace because, as a millennial, Myspace was an essential part of my introduction to social media. I have matured alongside social media as it did the same. For many of us, Myspace was our gateway to modern social media. I remember finishing my homework after school just to run to my chunky desktop computer and log on to see if I got any new comments or friend requests. The importance of Myspace in my social media experience is mirrored in Myspace’s effect on the growth of modern social networks.
The Rise of Myspace
Myspace was developed in 2003 by two employees at an internet marketing company, eUniverse. The thought behind Myspace was to build the Friendster model. At the time, Friendster was one of the only social networks on the internet, but it focused on gaming. With Myspace, they hoped to expand the same social network concept with more social interactions among users. With the tools and knowledge they already had from eUniverse, co-founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe had no problem acquiring tons of Myspace users in a short time. Myspace became the first social media site to reach a million monthly active users only one year after launch. In 2006, three years after launch, Myspace had over 100 million users. That year, Myspace also temporarily surpassed Google as the most visited website in the US. Myspace remained the biggest social media platform until 2008 when Facebook started rapidly gaining users.
Social Media Revolution
The development of Myspace changed the expectations of social networks. Myspace was the first social network that allowed its users to connect and interact with people they knew in real life in a way that wasn’t a conversation. For the first time, users were able to create online personas of themselves. Myspace profiles were completely customizable and allowed users to build their own identities for all their “friends” to see. Customization became essential to social networks. Myspace allowed users to use simple coding to change their page’s background, choose profile songs and the infamous profile picture.
What made Myspace so successful was a combination of two major cultural driving forces: young people and music. Myspace used music as a way for users to express themselves on their pages, but Myspace also allowed musicians to use Myspace in the same way. Myspace’s rise began at the same time as the rise of mainstream emo. Bands were able to use their Myspace page to promote their brand and connect with fans. Myspace was the first time fans and musical artists could connect directly.
Myspace Lives On
While Myspace is no longer the biggest social network, the site does still exist. It is nearly unrecognizable to when it was at its peak, however, some of Myspace’s elements can still be seen in social networks that we still use today. One of Myspace’s biggest flaws was the lack of interaction. Today’s most popular social networks took Myspace’s elements of interaction and built upon them. Almost every social network requires users to friend request each other. Once accepted, comments are one of the biggest driving forces of interaction. Both friend requests and comments came to us as notifications on Myspace. The instant gratification of notifications still exists in almost all social networks today. Profile pictures were made a social network standard by our first Myspace friend, Tom. The term “Selfie” was created during the Myspace era and eventually went to become the word of the year in 2013. Myspace also was the first time we encountered emojis. We would use code to create emojis or use emojis to show our mood on our profile. Now you can find emoji keyboards on all smartphones. Facebook Messenger is reminiscent of Myspace’s private message feature. Myspace was the first social network that allowed users to share music. Today we can share music from social networks onto other social networks.
Myspace also created behaviors or concepts that still exist in today’s social media culture. Myspace allowed users to be whoever they wanted to be and say whatever they want.
This brought about the term “Catfish.” Some people took the freedom Myspace gave them to become and impersonate someone other than themselves. Catfishing became such a huge internet issue that MTV created a reality show exposing catfishers. Myspace’s online community also allowed its users to freely speak their opinions, but this brought about the “troll” persona. Myspace’s creation of “comments” allowed people to say whatever they wanted to each other without fear because of the screen that separates the users.
Conclusion
While no one modern social network embodies all of Myspace’s original features, these features can be found in several different social networks. Myspace has been fragmented into different social networks. “We end up going to one social network to listen, another to learn more, and another to reach out”. Myspace’s downfall was due to its inability to adapt to the ever-changing social media landscape. As technology advances, so must our social networks. While Myspace didn’t survive, its influence lives on in all the social networks we use every day.
