Since it’s launch in 1999, the online world has never been the same again.  MySpace, a social networking website, has changed the face of the interactive world and with it, the standards of online

advertising.After just a few short years in business, Myspace was bought by one of the largest media corporations in the World, Fox Interactive. 

            “Myspace is currently the world’s sixth most popular English-language website and the sixth most popular website in any language, and the third most popular website in the United States, though it has topped the chart on various weeks,” according to web traffic website www.amazon.com.

With an interactive space such as this, the reaching points are endless.  On December 18, 2007, the site gained over 300 million accounts.  These personalized pages can be formatted with several photos, music, video and any number of glitter graphics one chooses.  HTML can be used to customize areas such as “About Me”, “I’d Like to Meet,” and “Interests.”  Several websites, such as http://www.html-codes.com/, can be found through various search engines to help obtain the needed code.  These pages are also easy to navigate and give links to other such pages.   

With such a massive audience, made up of mostly young consumers, there is bound to be a swarm for advertisers.  Since MySpace is all about being free and simple to their clientele, companies and advertisers alike flock in to grab the biggest piece of the pie.

            According to Andrew Teman, one of the biggest issues at hand is “should these companies and advertisers be forced to head down the proper channels to reach this audience, or given that MySpace has provided the tools and the built in audience for free, should companies and advertisers be allowed to cleverly use MySpace’s toolsets to cut MySpace completely out of the transaction?”

            To give an example, several corporations such as American Inkwell tattoo parlor in Pekin, Ill., make MySpace pages to advertise their business, for free, http://www.myspace.com/americaninkwell.

Sites promoting indie music or youth soccer have also become popular. 

            With the upcoming elections in 2008, MySpace has also become a tool for Presidential hopefuls.  In order to reach a much younger voting audience, candidates such as Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton have made

their own personal sites. 

Here they customize them with their own personal flair, as well as special messages to the visitors.  Those logging in can add them as a friend, send them a message or even write a comment on their wall.

Chuck, a fan of Sen. Clinton’s wrote “Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!  Good luck on the debate this evening.  We don’t need to take South Carolina, but it sure would be nice!  Im pulling for you girl.  Im ready for the change you can bring!,” (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=163712750).  The thought of such a message to the potential next President would be unheard of even four years ago in the last election, but it’s today is definitely a new day. 

            Free advertising hasn’t taken MySpace over, however.  In the fall of 2007, www.google.com pledged $900 million for a span of three years and nine months of exclusive rights.“Google has won a highly prized deal with MySpace.com to serve Web search and advertising listings to the nearly 100 million members of the News Corp.-owned social network, besting rival Yahoo in the bid,” according to CNET

. 

            Yahoo had been MySpace’s previous advertising partner, and suffered a huge blow with the change.  Google, however, was eager for the new partnership because of MySpace’s large online community.  The deal holds an important key of traffic and ad revenue via the millions of young users on MySpace.  In just one week after the switch, the amount of traffic from MySpace to Google more than doubled.

            As time goes on, Google also plans to implement their own search bar into every MySpace page.  This will give them an incredible look into what is going on in the young adult world of MySpace.

            Yet another implementation to the MySpace community will be the “SelfServe by MySpace”.  This will allow advertisers to directly purchase, create and analyze ads through the MySpace network.  The tool will help users select a number of ad targeting factors suited to interest categories.

            According to MySpace, “there are 23 million small and local businesses in the U.S.  Only about 1 million of them advertise online, and those that do generally advertise only via search.  MySpace has about 10 million businesses maintain a profile on the service.  The goal of the product is to give those businesses a new way to reach out to the

 community.”

 No matter where you come from or who you are, MySpace has a place for you.  The online world is endless and the amount of advertising that can be put out has yet to be seen.

References

Goldman, A. (2006). MySpace Looks to Increase Profit through Advertising. Retrieved

9 January 2008, from            http://media.www.udreview.com/media/storage/paper781/news/2006/05/16/News/Myspace.Looks.To.Increase.Profit.Through.Advertising-1997187.shtml.

Olsen, S. & Mills, E. (2007). Google Pledges $900 Million for MySpace Honors.

Retrieved 9 January 2008, from http://business2-cnet.com.com/Google+pledges+900+million+for+MySpace+honors/2100-1032_3-6102952.html.

Riley, D. (2007). MySpace to Announce Self-Serve Hyper Targeted Advertising

Network. Retrieved 9 January 2008, from http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/04/myspace-to-announce-self-serve-advertising-network/.

Teman, A. (2007). Subversively Advertising On MySpace.  Retrieved 9 January 2008,

from  http://andrewteman.org/blog/2005/06/28/subversively-advertising-on-myspace/.

(2007). Mysocial Marketing.  Retrieved 9 January 2008, from

            http://mysocialmarketing.com/index.php.