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I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit on MySpace.com lately. It’s like drugs to an addict; I just can’t stay away. The strange part about that for me is that I’ve been one of those people who resisted the whole MySpace movement. Sure, I’ve got a profile out there, but it’s been mostly just to support the artists whose music I love.

No matter how much I resist (or resisted) the movement, there are some things they are doing right, and it’s only fair to point out the good before pointing out the bad:

1. Community - Building a good online community isn’t easy. There are good circles of friends out there (high school friends, college friends, friends who like similar music), and MySpace makes it easy for anybody to build community.
2. Independent Music - The times, they are changing. The music business isn’t what she used to be, and it has never been easier for an independent musician to make music than it is now. MySpace gives good resources to that truth and allows artists to post songs in a flash player so people can hear the music and get to know the artist.
3. Personal Profile - So many message boards and “community” sites have no room for pictures, videos, or other information about a user. Some of this information is a little bit excessive; for example, do you really need to know that I’m heterosexual, or that my Zodiac sign is Cancer? Most of the profile information circles back to community. “You like C.S. Lewis, too?”…and a connection is made, and the circle of friends grows larger.
4. Event Planning - Music cafes can send messages to their “friends” to let them know about who will be in concert, event times, and other details. A musician can send a message to fans in a given area to let them know that he will be in concert locally.
5. Finding People - There are those people you went to high school with who you never thought you’d see again. You do a Google search, but never find them. You call your school, but they have no address on file. There are, of course, people you went to school with who you would never want to see again, but for those who you do want to see, MySpace makes it easy to find them.

MySpace sounds great so far, right? Well, they are far from perfect. Here is my top 5 things of what is wrong with MySpace:

1. Porn Spam - In the name of all that is holy, could somebody please stop the porn spam? They come all the time as messages from MySpace saying “Tricia would like to be your friend.” You think “Tricia?…is that the one I went to school with 20 years ago?” So you click to see who she is to find that she is just some bimbo who wants you to see her naked.
2. Advertising - If you ever have a web site with a link that has a “skip this advertisement” link, you have too much advertising. Period.
3. Too Much “Stuff” - Movies, web searches, video clips…God gave us Google for a reason. MySpace is a community site; they should stick to community. Watching video clips of stupid people do stupid things is better reserved for Google’s video site (or even YouTube).
4. Popularity Contest - Every profile you visit has the statement “[username] has x friends.” The bigger the number x is, the more popular you are. This leads to “be my friend” spams, similar to the porn spams already mentioned only without the nudity. It ends up being a competition to see who can have the most “friends” in their network. Blah.
5. Page Layouts - Customizing a page is a good idea. It adds personality to a profile. The problem comes when you put a picture of New York at night as a background image on a page with dark text. It makes the whole MySpace idea look cheap and unprofessional.

Head over to MySpace.com if you’d like. You might find that friend from 20 years ago. You might find people that want you to see them naked. Hopefully, they won’t be the same people.