Language level: intermediate
Standard: British accent
Source: SPEAK UP, Issue, 249
My Space Generation
What’s all the excitement about?
When the internet began, innovators promised an interactive platform linking users around the world. As big corporations caught on, this seemed empty hype: the internet was a great information source, but creating content was left to big companies, limiting individuals interaction to email, chat and shopping online.
Today, however, you no longer have to be a programming boffin to make your own website. Our compulsion to communicate has made networking and file sharing sites a phenomenal success.
How do I set up a MySpace?
The premise is gloriously simple. You just need an email address and half an hour to spare. At MySpace.com, click on “Sign Up.” Enter your details. Post an interesting photo. Add your likes and dislikes, heroes, favorite music, books and films: anything you like. This creates your user profile
Now we add friends. Search for people you know, or click from page to page, inviting people with similar interests to be MySpace friends. Their pictures appear below your profile. Soon you’ll receive friend-request from across the world. If this seems alarming, set your profile to private, so only real friends can view it.
How does it work?
Programming developments –sometimes called web 2.0 –separate content from style. Templates like MySpace allow anyone to create sophisticated-looking pages filled with photos, videos and personalized stuff. If you can program, you can personalize your page further.
How does MySpace profit from this?
By advertising. Rupert Murdoch saw so much potential in it that his News Corporation bought it for $580 million ($ 432 million Euros).
Brits and Americans already use the internet more than they watch TV, challenging established approaches to news and entertainment. No wonder Google paid 1.65 billion ($ 1.23 billion) for YouTube.
Why bother?
It’s like a party without the fear of getting cornered by a bore (you can block unwanted message). Research suggests that teenagers get emotional support from on-line friends, many of whom they never meet.
But writer Elizabeth Crane warns how easily this buzz of unexpected encounters becomes a paranoid obsession. “I wake up, make coffee, log in to see if I have any new friends, click on 16 different profiles, and notice that I’ve been online 1:22:28, which is 1:02:28 too much. Wait, how does Bryan have 300 friends?”
But I have real friends! Who else is there?
Many famous people run their own pagers; others are run by fans. At school, I thought I was the only fan of “80s band the Smiths. Today I can become Morrissey’s friend and contact 100.000 Smith fans worldwide. MySpace also host historical and fictional characters: it’s instructive to exchange messages with Sherlock Holmes, Nietzsche and Garibaldi.
Bands can post four songs on MySpace. Stars from Madonna to Bjork have MySpace, and it’s a great way to discover new music. Lily Allen’s sardonic blog boosted her fame, while the Arctic Monkeys’ album shot to Number 1. Rock chick Sandi Thom broadcast live from Scotland to a worldwide audience. Besides songwriters and authors, you’ll find US presidential candidates, aiming at younger voters. New celebrities emerge, too. Tila Tequila has 2 million MySpace friends while Scottish bartender Mairi Duncan found can found TV fame when her hilarious fall through a trapdoor was YouTube hit.
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