• Your View of MySpace Proves Your Age

    In a blog last month about Generation Y and Blogging, Des Walsh shows his age when he writes about MySpace. First off, in an ad:tech session led by a panel of teenagers, he writes, “one of the most striking pieces of information was that these young people spend a lot of time on MySpace and that is kind of their default ‘location’ online.”

    This is surprising? Seriously? I mean, I’m no teenager, but this is still common knowledge. Walsh is showing that despite his finger on the pulse of the professional blogging community, he really has no clue about who is leading the future of technology. The question is ultimately, “what sells?” The answer is based on teenagers. Teenagers are the top consumers in today’s absent-parent culture.

    What good does it do to be a professional blogger if you have to go to a conference to learn that teenagers use MySpace? It is the most popular site for teenagers without exception. It is their homepage, their email, their blog, their calendar, their photo book, their chat room, their forum, their mp3 player, their games system, their video player…

    Joke all you want about MySpace being for kids. I know plenty of adults who are too proud to join because of their misguided judgments. Not that everyone should join MySpace. No way. I can barely stand it due to the inappropriate advertising by True.com. I’ve already canceled my MySpace account once, only to return despite the advertising because it’s still simply the best way to connect with other people. I don’t care what purposeweb says, Facebook is not the future of social media and could never be unless it receives a total faceLIFT.

    Sure, the older you are, the less you may find a reason to use MySpace. I can give you that without laughing at you. Something about being young gives you endless amounts of things to say and the burning desire to communicate all of them with the world. There’s just something appealing to teenagers about having 300+ friends (most of whom you cannot possibly communicate with and still have time to sleep) whom you can flaunt like popularity badges.

    I get it. A reasonable adult may look at MySpace and think, this is a waste of my time. I can respect that. Were I not addicted to my own computer and Internet access, I would wholeheartedly agree. There are plenty of things to do with your life that do not revolve around MySpace. If you are content living apart from MySpace, however, I will ask one special resquest of you: don’t show your age by talking about it. 😉