Attention: Not Everyone With A MySpace Account Is Looking To ‘Hook Up’!

I’m thinking of modifying my MySpace profile to specifically state:

NOT single. NOT looking for singles. NOT interested in meeting single people. NOT gonna reply to all the personal messages I receive from single guys looking for single girls (…or any other combination of singleness, for that matter).

I mean, I don’t want to seem rude or anything, but I’m just not interested. That’s not why I signed up for a MySpace account.

However, I’d say the majority of people who do sign up for a free MySpace account are trying to make some sort of connections… “love” or otherwise.

How do I know? About 99% of the people who’ve contacted me through my MySpace account (and my Skype account, and even my Flickr account to a lesser degree) have simply been looking to hook up. And they’re not shy about saying so. (The good part is, it’s easy to just “block” them from ever contacting you again.)

You see, there is a lot of “good” that can come from the people you meet through a MySpace account… but there’s a lot of bad that can come of it too. Here’s what you need to know…

First, for an overview about Social Networking Sites, check out this funny video of MySpace being discussed on The Daily Show.

Social Networking Sites: Good & Bad

Based on the e-mails I receive and some of the horror stories I’ve read in the news, I’d say that many — if not most — MySpace users and those who use other types of “social networking” sites are primarily looking to meet other single people (…or else they have one of about a million other ulterior motives, I’m sure).

In reality, I signed up for a MySpace account simply because it was the only way I could get a message to a couple of my favorite bands (Franky Perez and I Nine). I had recently seen both groups in person. And at the time, I wanted to get a personal note to them, letting them know how much I liked their music, and to inform them that I’d written an article about them here on this site.

 

MySpace Music

The fact of the matter is, bands/musicians/singers/songwriters tend to use their MySpace account to manage their Fan Clubs these days. In fact, I’ve noticed that many band sites have both a MySpace site and a “professional” website. It’s kinda like the MySpace account lets you get “up close and personal” with your fans, while the professional dot.com site is the route you’ve got to go if you want to get noticed by the big-wigs.

Of the two, the MySpace sites (for bands & musicians) are likely to be more informal, more personal, and updated more regularly than the dot.com sites (…usually just with brief updates to fans, tour dates, and quick blog-like entries).

 

MySpace Turned Popularity Contest

Where MySpace started to get all out of wack (and too personal for my comfort level) was the point where people started updating their My Space profiles by uploading their headshots (which has since switched to body shots… many of them quite revealing).

Yes, my (very conservative) headshot is on my personal MySpace page. Way back when I signed up — before online social networking websites became all the rage — I posted mine because everyone else did. I mean, you see it all the time… on Flickr, on 43Things. I find it mildly interesting to “see” whose site I’m at. But that was before people started pushing the envelope and peoples’ photos started being used as a guide when determining who looked interesting to hook up with.

In fact, MySpace quickly became popular with the teenie-bopper crowd who were thrilled to be able to create their own webpage, and “meet” strangers, and extend their circle of friends.

(You might have heard about some of the perversion and controversy regarding the online dating aspect of MySpace… especially those cases involving minors.)

The fact remains… today, almost every singer, songwriter, musician, comedian, and artist (…heck, anyone with “a gig”) is eager to promote themselves on a MySpace webpage. However — fortunately or unfortunately — having a MySpace page seems more like a popularity contest than anything else.

 

MySpace For Beginners

In case you aren’t already familiar with MySpace… here is my personal take on it. (Please note, I am not an expert on MySpace. I am only speaking from experience and what I’ve learned along the way.)

MySpace started out as one of the first online social networking sites where people primarily shared their favorite stuff (songs, books, activities) online for all to see. It’s a place for people to quickly create a website about themselves — simply by filling in the blanks — without having to know any HTML or anything.

It was marketed mostly as a simple way to get your own FREE website and network with other people. Initially, their target audience was musicians, and they even incorporated some cool built-in features like the ability to store your own full-length songs on your page. The songs play automatically whenever someone visits your MySpace page, and visitors can turn them off and/or shuffle through your songs. What better way to get your songs heard by the masses?…

In theory, MySpace is a great concept!

So great, that every small-time musician, singer, songwriter and artist started taking advantage of MySpace as yet another unique marketing opportunity to get the word out about their band, their music, and their upcoming gigs.

MySpace grew very quickly and became incredibly popular in the music crowd — especially with unsigned artists who didn’t have a record company promoting their songs.

Now, it’s become so popular that even the BIG-time singers, songwriters & musicians are jumping on the bandwagon and creating their own MySpace pages! They realize it’s a great way to increase their fan base.

 

So, Why Have A MySpace Account?

If you were not required to “register” with a MySpace account to send an e-mail to a person with a MySpace page (those two bands mentioned above), you can bet I never would have signed up for MySpace.

But, if you want to receive up-to-the-minute info about your favorite band, singer, or songwriter or participate in their fan clubs, then you have to complete a MySpace profile.

This means that you have to go through all the steps to sign up for your own MySpace account. (It only takes about 2 minutes… especially if, like me, you don’t answer any of the questions — the answers to which would appear on your personal MySpace page.)

But get this… Just to have a MySpace page you have to specify one of the following (you cannot leave it blank):

• Swinger
• In a Relationship
• Single
• Divorced
• Married

You also have to provide your city & state, as well as your birthdate. Yes, you could lie… and I’m sure several people do (probably for other reasons), but what good would it be to have “fake” info about me up there?

Anyhoo, I’m not saying that MySpace is particularly bad, or evil, or anything. I’m just saying that not everyone who utilizes social networking sites is in it for the hook-up factor.

So there. Now you know… the rest of the story about MySpace. (Not everyone wants to hook up!)

NOTE: To this day, I have never shared the address of my personal MySpace page with anyone (it’s not even mentioned here in this post) …mostly because I don’t want more “request to be my friend” e-mails. I get plenty already, despite the fact that there’s nothing on my page to speak of (since I only answered the 3 “required” questions mentioned above). Those people who happen to find my MySpace page are politely routed here: TheFunTimesGuide.com