Is "The Place for Friends" Still a Place for Friends?

I have spent the better part of the last day organizing my home office. The dreaded continual clean-up and thinning out of books, magazines and old paper work. While pouring through a stack of Fast Company magazines, the cover of the September 2008 issue caught my eye. There stood mop-headed entrepreneurs, Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe of MySpace. "MySpace?" you ask... yep, the first online social network to which I ever belonged.

The caption next to their names reads: Don't Mess With MySpace, then goes on to say its founders claim it be more innovative than Apple, Google or Facebook. I loved MySpace. It was a huge learning experience for me, as I became more entranced with what it offered. A way for me to express myself, to blog, to connect with dear friends, as well as those that were mere acquaintances. And all using a tool I had barely dipped my pen in: the world wide web.

I first joined MySpace back in 2003. My teenage daughters wanted to join and I let them, on one condition, that I was listed as one of their top friends. Innovation had always fascinated me and I thought this was an interesting use of the internet, though I had NO IDEA back then, the impact it would have. Then, no one thought another network would come along and do it better or outshine Tom Anderson, every MySpace users friend.

I maintain a MySpace profile today - barely. And I have friends that still frequent the site and use it for their business, music, film, etc. I suppose there is still a place for the "Place for Friends." I think just looking back at recent history, we can ascertain that change will take place at such a frenetic pace, it will be difficult to keep up with it.

It will be interesting to watch what happens to MySpace now. They are not part of the top three but they are still around, and that must account for something, right? I would hardly call them a dinosaur, maybe more like a printing press. Still in use, but with a questionable future.

by rayannethorn

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