How Long will Myspace Last for Us?

Just curious: how long do you think most of us will continue to utilize myspace? Afterall, so many social networking has come and gone -- Facebook, Xanga. And now myspace is being frequented by oldies like us. I doubt myspace was meant to reach my demographic.
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Jeremy: I think MySpace's end will come as News Corp. can't handle how many users utilize the service. I think it will stop being used if News Corp can't/won't upgrade its equipment.

I personally enjoy it because it's an easy way to keep in touch with old friends. A list of everyone with their pictures is on one page, without having to think about who has what e-mail address.

Those who use social networking do it for, usually, the following reasons: A) to genuinely keep in touch with friends made in the real world, catching up with old and new friends, B) To engage in a bit of narcissism and see how many pretty/cute people become their "friends", C) To seek liaisons of the lustful type (why else are their pictures of scantily clad women--and if you ID yourself in such a way, men--plastered in advertising all over the place?). Since I keep my profile set to private, I use MySpace for Reason A.

Me: That's what I use it for as well. So should you and any of my loyal old friends that myspace wasn't originally created for decide to move on, let me know.

Melissa: Wow. Good question! I don't know! It seems like a lot of people my age are just now jumping on the networking-site-bandwagon. Up until recently, whenever I'd ask somone over the age of 30 if they were on Myspace, the reply was usually "Am I on WHAT?" Or they'd bring up all the newspaper articles alleging pedophiles were preying on young children and teens. (And I'm not denying that doesn't happen.) So, I guess with the new wave of networkers, it might be around for a bit longer.

I used to be really skeptical of Myspace, mainly because it seemed like such a meat-market site. Everyone seemed fixated on who had the most friends, or at the very least who had the most attractive friends! But now I really enjoy it. I've reconnected with so many people that I either went to high school with, or who lived down the street from me when I was younger but who moved to other schools. I've also reconnected with old co-workers who have moved out of state. And several of my family members are also on the site, and it's a great central location for all of us to update each other on what is going on within the family (weddings, birthdays, parties, etc). I know it seems easy to just email each other with this kind of information, but a site like Myspace allows us all to interact with each other where we can all see, either via comments left on pages or photos places in blogs, etc. I kind of like this site now and hope it will be around a little longer.

Me: Should you relocate to another e-universe, let me know. I typically decline adding strangers to the list, but I'm glad I made the right exception for you.

Patrick: The funny thing is the site wasn't even concieved to be used this way; it was originally just supposed to be a way for bands to throw together a cheap web site to keep fans alert about upcoming shows. Which, to an extent, it still is.

I will stop using it when I either feel as if my friends have stopped paying attention, or if I discover something else. It's a tough call though, because some of my best friends still refuse to get anywhere near it, and I know I'll have a lot less time to waste on it if (god forbid) I ever get married, get a house and get a kid or two.

Me: True about the genesis. I am just wondering if we'll all be engaged in it when we hit middle age. I suppose we would since we are of the tech-savvy generation, and with all of us being more mobile than our parents, such means of communication will continue to connect the long-distanced pals. I cannot stand the idea of having to constantly move from one platform to another. I mean, I now have 3 e-mail accounts (one in hotmail cuz I am too lazy to move all my contacts to yahoo, which I am using for e-market correspondence, and then gmail for job searches). Unless there's a reason for opening another e-mail account, I'm all set. Like Jeremy said, if News Corp. cannot provide the necessary upgrades and/or god forbid, start charging, we will have to load up and move on.

Jeremy: And you hit another point with the multiple e-mail accounts: people will also use different social networking services to network differently for various reasons. I know that many people use MySpace as their general contact, but others use LiveJournal in addtion for only a specific subset of friends or other networking contacts. (This is more common in the gay community, where there are people who are not out of the closet at work or with their families, or with other friends.)

I envision a world where our generations, in the future, will be in our 70s but still using whatever world wide communications medium comes along to stay in touch with people. We grew up with rapid technological change and I think we'll continue to adapt much quicker than our parents or our grandparents.