What is Myspace.com?

By Josh Shirlen

Teenagers and young adults have always sought out places to call their own in the world.  From their bedrooms to tree houses to a table in the lunchroom teens look for a space to claim as theirs.   As society grows increasingly more dependent on the World Wide Web, it seems natural to expect young people to desire a place on the Web to call their own.  They have found that in Myspace.com.

The creators of Myspace.com describe the site as "a social networking service that allows Members to create unique personal profiles online in order to find and communicate with old and new friends."  In addition, Myspace.com claims that the site is for everyone, including "friends who want to talk online, single people who want to meet other singles, matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends, families who want to keep in touch, business people and co-workers interested in networking, classmates and study partners, and anyone looking for long lost friends."  One of the terms of eligibility to use Myspace.com is that a member must be at least 14 years old.

Essentially, Myspace.com provides members with a pre-designed, highly customizable, website for free.  Each website is linked up to the Myspace.com network which connects 70 million members (as of 4/06) from around the world.  Members can post "blogs" (a.k.a. web logs or journals), pictures, bulletins, and information about themselves on their pages.  They can also alter the appearance of their page to personalize it further.  Once members have established a page of their own they can invite other people on the Myspace.com network to be their "friends."  Myspace.com provides an excellent search engine that helps members locate new and old friends.  For example, they can search for members who attend(ed) a specific school or members who live in a specific city.  A member can also search for a friend by name or by e-mail address.  Once a page is set up and a member has connected with Myspace.com friends, the member can communicate with those friends by posting comments or by directly messaging (e-mailing) them.

What's good about Myspace.com?

The primary benefit of Mypace.com is its ability to connect people.  Myspace.com makes it possible to easily find old friends and to stay in touch with them.  The network also makes it possible to easily find new friends with similar interests from around the world.  Through Mypace.com it is possible to connect with literally hundreds of friends on a daily basis.  Myspace.com puts the vision of the World Wide Web on a personal level.

Another good aspect of Myspace.com is the freedom it provides for members to express themselves creatively.     Members often express themselves creatively through photography, painting, and drawing, all of which can be uploaded to a site relatively easily.  Perhaps the most commonly utilized tool for creative expression is Myspace.com's music player.  Members who are musicians can create a profile and upload music directly to the page.  Other members can then listen and give feedback.  Music, performed by amateur artists as well as highly publicized mainstream musicians, is a major part of Myspace.com.  (It should be noted that the music is not censored at all; indecent language is permitted.)

What's dangerous about Myspace.com?

The dangers associated with Myspace.com are no different than the dangers that come with the internet as a whole.  However, Myspace.com is predominantly marketed to, and used by, teens and young adults.  Therefore, we will look at the dangers of Myspace.com as they relate to this age group from a parent's perspective.

Although Myspace.com does have a solid policy prohibiting pornography and indecent content from being posted on any member's site, it does not take responsibility for policing the network.  Members have the ability to "Flag" offensive content and Myspace.com will delete the content promptly, but this depends on the action of the members. The Myspace.com website reads, "MySpace.com…assumes no responsibility for the Content, no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate Content, and no responsibility for the conduct of the User submitting any such Content."

Although pornography is not common on the network, it is typically only a few clicks of the mouse away.  (Again, no different than anywhere else on the internet.)   It should be noted that partial nudity does not seem to be deemed indecent by Myspace.com and many sites feature young men and women in their underwear or even naked yet not revealing any "private parts."  It is also common to find strong sexual content (i.e., gestures, situations) with no nudity on member pages.  To be perfectly clear, anyone surfing Myspace.com could very easily observe indecent sexual images.

Parents also need to be aware that child predators are also online and can reach your child through their Myspace pages.  They often begin relationships with children by lying about their ages or identity.  Some teens have been targeted based on the content they post on their pages or have been coerced into posting indecent content by a predator.  If your child is revealing personal information through their Myspace pages – name, address, where they go to school – they are putting themselves at considerable risk.

Parents who care about their children care about whom they are friends with.  They often tell their children to befriend other children who will be a positive influence on them.  Myspace.com throws this out the window.  Because Myspace.com is a public website, everything is open for observation.  A teenager might only be Myspace "friends" with peers a parent approves of, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have an intimate look into the life of those "bad influence" teens through Myspace.com.  In addition to the previously mentioned sexual content, he can witness underage drinking, drug use, foul language, and various criminal activities that are posted on other member's sites.  These things are commonly depicted through pictures and writing.

One final concern with Myspace.com is the advertising posted on each members homepage by Myspace.com.  The advertising is unavoidable and the means by which Myspace.com is able to remain a free service.  The majority of the advertising is harmless.   Ads for colleges, video games, clothing companies, etc., are typical.   However, "R" rated movie ads run regularly and late at night the ads consist primarily of dating services.  They feature scantly clad women with suggestive tag lines.

What should parents do?

The good news for parents is that Myspace.com is unlike a tree house or a locked bedroom door because you have access to it.  Parents can sign on just as frequently as their children and monitor what is going on.  Myspace.com provides members with no information about who is viewing their page, so if your child has a page then they have to assume that anyone on the internet is viewing it…including their parents.

Myspace.com does provide members with the ability to make a page "private."  This means that the page is only viewable by people on the member's friends list.  If a parent finds that their child's page is set to private they should ask for access to view the page.  On the other hand, you may approve of your child being a Myspace member but are uncomfortable with outsiders viewing his/her profile, in this case you might want to ask your child to set his/her profile to "private."

Many teens will want Myspace.com to be their tree house open to the whole world, except to their parents.  This is an unsafe fantasy and parents should be proactive about combating it.  It may be unrealistic to ban your children from joining Myspace.com considering they can log on at any school or library, but parents have just as much right to search the internet and Myspace.com as their children do, so don't feel guilty looking out for your kids.  Parents who allow the use of Myspace.com should access the site frequently to monitor their child's activity.

Finally, it should be mentioned that although Myspace.com is the largest site of its kind, it's not alone.  Xanga.com, Friendster.com, and Facebook.com are all similar social networking sites with similar dangers.  Check for your child's participation on these sites as well.

Myspace.com Terms and Conditions:

http://collect.myspace.com/misc/terms.html?z=1

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