As of 2022, it is estimated that 3.96 billion people use social media in some capacity or another. That’s roughly half the population on earth. Leading the pack in active users is Facebook with 2.91 billion followed closely by YouTube with 2.56 billion users. Not even making the list is MySpace, a relic from the early days of social media websites with 55 million current active users.
That wasn’t always the case. At one point in the mid 2000s, MySpace was visited more than search engines Yahoo and Google and from 2005 to 2009, was the most popular social media site. For a lot of millennials, including myself, MySpace was the first social media account we had. If you remember MySpace this will most likely bring back some nostalgia, if you don’t, here’s for a brief history lesson.
Let’s first rewind to 2003, 50 Cent leads the Billboard Hot 100 with “In Da Club,” The New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup, and MySpace debuted on the Internet. The concept of MySpace began when employees from similar tech companies saw the potential in social media and mimicked the best features from those sites while discarding anything unnecessary for their own project. The most recognizable name from the early days is Tom Anderson. When users created an account, Tom was automatically added to your friend list as your first friend. He became so identifiable, a popular Halloween costume during the height of their success was dressing up as MySpace president, Tom Anderson. Of which I certainly did. MySpace would attract 5 million users in their first year and at its peak have 115 million users. Alright, history lesson over.
The attraction to MySpace was the ability to fully customize your page to fit your personality. Learning basic HTLM (Hypertext Markup) coding gave users the capability to uniquely design their profile by tinkering with the default settings. You could create your own colour pallet, make custom backgrounds, change the layout, etc. Websites with any design component now offer templates, which have become the norm, but at the time it was revolutionary. A whole generation introduced to web design. If my memory serves me correctly, I had an overly zoomed in stock image of a beach with palm trees as my background with bright florescent green comic sans font. I was 13…
My favourite feature was the ability to add music to your profile. This feature was often used to demonstrate to our friends that our taste in music was superior to theirs. And mine always was. MySpace would become an excellent source for music discovery for easily allowing musicians to upload their songs and reach a wider audience. MySpace would help fuel the rise in emo/pop punk bands in the 2000s, many citing MySpace as the major contributor to their rise to success. I listened to those bands. The last song I used for my profile was “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More ‘Touch Me’” by Fall Out Boy. Cringe.
The site offered a lot of creative tools but by far the most stressful part about MySpace was choosing your top 8. Before relationship statuses on Facebook, before the of number of followers on Twitter or likes on Instagram, there was the MySpace top 8. Having to rank your friends is no easy task. Do you put your girlfriend number 1 or your best friend? Social status hung in the balance of the top 8. It could make or break your week at school.
Eventually Facebook would spread like wildfire and anyone using MySpace was left behind. At least that was the case at my high school. I should know, I held onto to my MySpace account for as long as I could. The financial crisis of 2008 led to major layoffs and eventually the site never returned to its glory day roots. I have many social media accounts now, but I’ll always remember my first.
Additional Sources:
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 