J.A Barnes developed the term “social network” in the year 1954. The definition of a social network is, “a social structure made of nodes which are generally individuals or organizations.” A social network  “indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintances to close familial bonds.” In other words a social network is a circle of individuals who come together for the purpose of interacting, communicating and socializing with one another. Social networking takes place in the real world all of the time but it can also be seen at work in the online world.

There are many social networking sites that are very successful over the Internet with the well-known and popular MySpace.com topping the list among young people. MySpace offers to its many members an “interactive, user submitted network” of so many people and things including friends, personal profiles for themselves and their friends that members can link to, photos, blogs, music, groups to join and videos MySpace also provides e-mail for its member and an internal search engine so members do not need to go anywhere else to search for whatever they need. It has become the coolest virtual hangout on the net.

MySpace was founded in July of 2003 by two men by the name of Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson and got its start in Santa Monica, California. The parent company for MySpace can be found in New York City and a back up server is also located in the same place. MySpace boasts as many as 75 million users worldwide and currently features 90 million profiles.  A survey done by Alexa Internet ranks MySpace as the “world’s fourth most popular English-language website” and the “sixth most popular website in any language.” But that is not all. MySpace is ranked as the “third most popular website in the United States” but there have been weeks that this social networking website has reached the number two and even number one spot. As far as overall visits to social networking sites, 80 percent of visits to any of these types of sites goes to MySpace, above all others.

MySpace is geared towards the younger set and especially in the countries where the English language is primarily spoken; it has become a large part of contemporary pop culture. It is showing no signs that the trend is slowing down. At the present time, MySpace is owned by News Corporation and employs approximately 300 people. It is believed that the popularity of MySpace is skyrocketing. People register to become members of MySpace.com on average of 230,000 on a daily basis. As of the date August 9, 2006 the 100 millionth account was started at MySpace and according to a news story that came out in early September 2006, as of September 8, 2006 there were 106 million individuals registered at the social networking website.

Besides the social element to MySpace.com it is also the home of many bands, musicians and lots of great music. Individuals flock to it to upload and listen to songs, watch videos and short films and add their favorites directly to their profile page.  Social networking online is nice ways to enhance the social networking you do offline. It is also a way to meet new people who share your interests and to reconnect with those whom you had previously lost touch with.

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1. Networking Opportunities Abound on MySpace.com
2. The Marketing Potential that MySpace Can Bring
3. The Birth of the Brainchild Called MySpace