How MySpace helped me find new music artists, develop online friendships/relationships, & stand out!

The social media platform that I decided to discuss for my first Thought Paper is MySpace. The reason as to why I chose this social media network is because it was the first account that I made when I ventured out into the social media world in wanting to know people ‘outside of my bubble’, so to speak. I signed up for MySpace in 2005 and through using MySpace, I was able to learn about new music artists, develop online friendships or relationships, and use the platform to make my profile stand out.

In the height of its success, “MySpace was the most popular social media site between 2005 and 2008” for many people to meet each other virtually with similar interest, become friends with celebrities when themselves were unknown, and revolutionize the way that music artists were propelled into the next stratosphere when it came to being discovered and displayed to the mainstream audience. MySpace is “credited with helping launch the careers of numerous international artists, including Kate Nash, Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris, who were discovered on the platform.”

Personally, one of my favorite music artists that was found through MySpace was London-born singer Adele. According to Official Charts, “her 2015 album 25 is the fastest-selling album of all time, shifting three million copies quicker than any other album ever. Her album 21 is the fourth biggest album of all time, and she has three of the biggest selling singles of all time!” Just think she was discovered due to a video clip of her singing on a mobile phone from 2006!

https://youtu.be/WW8QTSFx4zI

Adele singing a song that would get her discovered by XL Records in 2006.

I met one of my good friends through MySpace as we shared the same love for professional wrestling and John Cena. It was hard finding another girl who liked wrestling just as much as I did. I met Christina online in 2005 through MySpace and it was not until 2016, that I met her officially in person and we attended WrestleMania together in Dallas, Texas where we were a part of “a record crowd of 101,763” in WrestleMania history.

Christina and I meeting for the first time after initially becoming friends on MySpace because of our love for professional wrestling and WWE Superstar, John Cena. We became friends in 2005 and finally met face-to-face in 2016 and attended WrestleMania in Dallas, Texas (which was also my first time ever flying on a plane)!

I logged into MySpace account after many years, and it has changed drastically! Below are how layouts once were made to stand out compared to today’s layout of MySpace.

An example of a MySpace layout that made your profile stand out!

Current layout of MySpace.

In looking back at the advancement of technology, MySpace had a significant impact on social media has evolved today. This can be how seek to out new music artists whether it is from YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, etc. It has given people the ability to connect with others from all over the world who have shared interests that they would have never interacted with each other beforehand. While Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram connects other through photos and videos, it gives people a bigger platform to connect with/relate to others around the world. For example, being personally recognized by one of your favorite celebrities is one of the best feelings in the world and it goes beyond MySpace as it is responsible for introducing the idea (for potential interaction). Finally, with the use of MySpace, it gave many people an introductory course on how to stand out when it came to the layout of their profile. For example, if you look at dating websites these days, a person will want to make their profile stand out above everyone else to get the worthy attention of a special someone. While MySpace is not necessarily the ‘go-to’ social media juggernaut as it once was in the mid-2000s, it still has left an imprint on how to promote yourself as an individual (personally and professionally) by putting your ‘best foot forward’.

References Adele Singing To Me. YouTube. (2006, August 18). Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://youtu.be/WW8QTSFx4zI Ainsley, H. (2019, March 27). Did you know these acts all started off on Myspace? Official Charts. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/myspace-acts-who-found-success-on-the-official-charts__25882/ Hayden, J. (2021, January 17). WWE will return to AT&T Stadium in 2022 for WrestleMania 38. Dallas News. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/cowboys/2021/01/17/wwe-will-return-to-att-stadium-in-2022-for-wrestlemania-38/ Robinson, M. (2019, March 18). Myspace apologizes after losing 12 years’ worth of Music. CNN. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/us/myspace-lost-12-years-music-uploads-apology-intl-scli/index.html #UFCJCOnline #ThoughtPaper #MySpace