2008 Woodie Awards
Myspace.com: it's like a drug, dude
Meeting new people without ever having to leave your computer desk
Michael Hilal
Issue date: 5/6/05 Section: Opinion
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I have never been the type of person who would spend a huge amount of time on the Internet unless I felt as though it were purposeful - for research purposes, to read the news, or just to send an email. It was great to be connected, for me it was more for function then leisure.
My assumption was that people who spent hours "chatting" in cyberspace and more time on the Internet than physical interaction, were simply freaks.
The thought is that these people are so socially inept they have to rely on the computer for contact with others, no real social skills. Could I be wrong, was there a possibility that I just had not found the right online forum for me?
Then it happened, I received an email inviting me to "a place for friends" - Myspace. It is this huge phenomenon, in online interaction. Initially, having been very dismissive, I had heckled the friend that sent the invite to me. For me, this was completely against anything that involved any intelligence or good use of time for that matter. It was almost a conspiracy; I received several other requests from friends to join. My curiosity heightened, I gave in.
It was actually fairly interesting. Once joining there is a profile to fill out, some of it was fairly standard, such as ethnicity, favorite music, movies, books, and you could even post pictures of yourself, or maybe not. Then I was able to give a witty description of who I was and whom I wanted to meet, a person could have a bit of fun with this.
The next step is what I found to be the easiest part of the entire Myspace process. I began to receive and send friend requests. I browsed through other profiles either with the built in search tool or of friends that had already been added. That's the beauty of it; one connects with other friends through ones that have been added. Your network can become huge. I have friends with literally thousands of "friends" (that actually seems a bit ridiculous to me, does one really know that many people?).
My assumption was that people who spent hours "chatting" in cyberspace and more time on the Internet than physical interaction, were simply freaks.
The thought is that these people are so socially inept they have to rely on the computer for contact with others, no real social skills. Could I be wrong, was there a possibility that I just had not found the right online forum for me?
Then it happened, I received an email inviting me to "a place for friends" - Myspace. It is this huge phenomenon, in online interaction. Initially, having been very dismissive, I had heckled the friend that sent the invite to me. For me, this was completely against anything that involved any intelligence or good use of time for that matter. It was almost a conspiracy; I received several other requests from friends to join. My curiosity heightened, I gave in.
It was actually fairly interesting. Once joining there is a profile to fill out, some of it was fairly standard, such as ethnicity, favorite music, movies, books, and you could even post pictures of yourself, or maybe not. Then I was able to give a witty description of who I was and whom I wanted to meet, a person could have a bit of fun with this.
The next step is what I found to be the easiest part of the entire Myspace process. I began to receive and send friend requests. I browsed through other profiles either with the built in search tool or of friends that had already been added. That's the beauty of it; one connects with other friends through ones that have been added. Your network can become huge. I have friends with literally thousands of "friends" (that actually seems a bit ridiculous to me, does one really know that many people?).