MySpace the monolith

Communication plays a really big role in my life since I’m entering the world of journalism. The whole area is a loaded communication gun, one has to make sure they get their point across without rambling and make sure the wording they use aren’t libelous. Aside from the professional area, I communicate a lot through MySpace, I understand Facebook has become popular but I like to handle only one social networking site because I still prefer face to face communication. MySpace has become a cyber-monolith.
MySpace appeals to me because it is the most widely used social site around. It also allows me to keep up to date and to contact bands for articles. One thing that has changed, and was not allowed before, is the fact that celebrities communicate and endorse themselves through this medium. This is similar to the point David Crowley made in “Communication: Technology, Culture, Society,” when he said that writing became democratized when it used to be just for the elitist. The communicational tool that is MySpace has brought together the celebrities that the country considers ‘royalty’ and allows both classes to interact. This in turn has made the appeal of celebs less intriguing now that they are so accessible.
What is really surprising is the younger generation, 12 and up, who have their own profile. “If acquired in childhood, the skill was convertible into an automatic reflex and thus distributable over a majority of a given population (Crowley, 55).” It’s cool that loved one such as Grandparents can communicate with them but the fact is they are being breed on this and are using their profiles just as much as they use their phone.
Even when one is not at home, the MySpacephere still has them in its orbit. Like never before, there are ways to MySpace without having to sit in front of the computer. I don’t use it a lot but the application on phones has made it easier to allow others to follow each other’s lives and those that don’t have the application can still visit it from their mobile web browser.
Recently, MySpace has had some updates which users can update their “status,” by text messaging.
However, like anything else in the neo tech world, it does have its downsides. There have been numerous fights that have taken place over the computer. It has really diminished the quality of the written word by middle school and high school kids. Walter Ong wrote that now that the written word has taken over, the intonation of how one says it is canceled out and that can lead to some confusion.
When I step back and look, I wonder, what was life like before all these social networking sites? Even though I visit my friends equally, the topics of these networking tools are still brought up. It has become a part of our vocabulary like “googling.” I’ve heard people say “did you see that post today on MySpace?”
The issue that Brian Carroll talked about in his article on “Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere,” talks about the blogs becoming news, MySpace not only has news now on the front page but like the above, people are able to communicate somewhat with celebrities and politicians so now they get the news before the press—news before news. This also steps up the competition for print as well.
Personally, I don’t think that these tools are a hindrance, they add to communicating, if practiced right. However, there are others that have had their peer to peer communication hindered because of it. Which brings the gun analogy back into view, a gun doesn’t hurt people— people hurt people. This also brings technological determinism to the forefront. We as a society, like to communicate, we need it and like to do it from the comfort of our own home.
The bottom line is; MySpace won’t be going anywhere until the next big thing comes along.