I finally got a page on MySpace. Actually I've had a very basic of pages on MySpace for probably two years but didn't really know what to do with it. I still am a little cloudy as to the benefits of it. But I went ahead and filled out the page more properly. You may view it
here.
So why am I on? I guess there are several reasons. First, it does seem that most people that I meet now have a page there. It makes for an easy way to keep in touch with new acquaintances and learn more about them when you can find their MySpace page. Second, I just wanted to learn more about the benefits of these Web 2.0 social networking applications and the only way to really learn these things is to dive in. Third, I link people to my other pages (like this blog) - so MySpace is just another space to exist in and promote my blog and podcast.
After a couple of weeks I've made some observations about this "new world". Keep in mind that I am most certainly not in the demographic that has embraced MySpace so vigorously!
1) Most MySpace pages are unreadable
What an irony this is. My MySpace page is actually very intentionally clean and readable and organized. This is not normal. In fact, I would go so far to say that 20-30% of pages that I come across are unreadable. And 90% of all pages are difficult to read. Here is an
example of a typical MySpace page. Also consider that the example is actually a business trying to promote themselves. I'm not sure if being neat and tidy like mine is considered "uncool" - perhaps hectic and hard-to-read (background and text is too similarly colored) is hip. I don't know. Maybe it's just amateur hour...
2) Most people's pages have more comments than context
On MySpace, you can leave comments on other people's pages. 90% of all comments seem to be either "happy birthday" (MySpace gives you notification of upcoming friends' birthdays) or funny graphics. The problem here is that most comments aren't interesting to readers of the page. So you have a situation where the majority of one's public page is made up of comments that only the page creator cares about. Not too compelling. But maybe that's me showing my age again. Maybe younger people find that the most fascinating part of MySpace (i.e. checking up on their friends).
3) I like the messaging and even the blog features
MySpace allows to quickly message all of your friends in one stroke. These messages are not public and only go to your friends. It's actually pretty nice. I've received messages about charity events from my more charity-loving friends, a lost puppy looking for an owner, and announcements from Barak Obama (one of my friends - though, of course, it's not really him!). They also have a blogging feature which I use to pretty much just repurpose the content on my main blog. Since I only have one subscriber on my MySpace blog (thanks Susan!) and since there are very few of my friends that blog, I don't think blogging is a big application for MySpace users.
4) Potential networking tools
MySpace gives you the ability to add your schools, businesses, industries, interests to your profile in such a way that you can easily search for these things in others. For example, I could look up all of those who graduated from my high school in my year (I did and didn't find many). Drat - I'm old. I can see some potential in meeting old friends or finding new ones in your industry for networking.
Conclusion
Personally I would never use MySpace as my only web presence to promote my business or my band. But it's useful for that as a supplement because of it's messages features and wide popularity. Limited layout capabilities and ultimately limited control would still want me to create a unique web presence for that. But for the common person, it's not a bad way to keep in touch with friends or even find new ones with common interests.
Jeff's Random Thoughts
I saw the movie "America The Beautiful" last night as part of the AFI Dallas film festival. It was a world premier (i.e. never been seen before) and sold out. 
