Too Old for MySpace?

A couple of things happening at one time led me to create a MySpace. After vain searches for backgrounds that I liked (and that fit on one screen wide so that it is not necessary to scroll left and right), I finally created my own MySpace layout. Now I've spent a couple hours "perfecting the look" and I'm asking myself, "Now what?"

So why did I do this again? First, I read in an article:

Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder - a teacher or parent - or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of communication is losing favour to instant and text messaging. "In this world of instant gratification, email has become the new snail mail," says 25-year-old Californian Rachel Quizon. (Source: Snail Email, Fox News)

And then the same week I read this, I was talking with some friends about the "interesting" cell phone habits of those whose generation was pre-cell phone. One such person said, "If you will tell me when you're going to call, I'll turn on my cell phone."

So what does this have to do with me and MySpace? Well, I've checked out MySpace a couple times since it is so "hip" and "with the times" (although I don't think the word "hip" is hip anymore), but since I already blog at Blogspot (The Hurts in Texas), I did not see the need. Besides, MySpace seems more about social networking, and my social network doesn't use it much. (Like I'm really much of a 'social person' anyway?) Maybe I'm just too old for MySpace.

Now I'm not trying to stay twenty-something forever (about a decade too late for that!), but I don't want to get "old" either. So after watching Brooke on MySpace for a while, I thought I'd give it a try. Now that I've got my site up, it seems pretty cool the first few visits, but then it's like "Well, I've seen that before." I'm looking for something new if I am going to return to somebody's site. To me, the key is blogging. If a person is blogging, there is something fresh that makes it worth coming back.

So now I'm looking at the pros and cons of MySpace and Blogger:

* Just figured out I can't do a bulleted list on MySpace (1 for Blogger)

* I can do a slide show on MySpace but not on Blogger (1 for MySpace)

* I've only been on MySpace for a couple days, but posting to Blogger is much easier using the FireFox browser that I prefer (2 for Blogger)

* I like the fact that my 'favorites' is easier to find on MySpace (2 for MySpace)

* I can only post my geocahing stats (in graphic form) on Blogger (3 for Blogger)

* It is much easier to make a customized MySpace layout so I don't look like everybody else out there (3 for MySpace)

* I don't see an easy way to posts lists of links on MySpace like I can on Blogger (4 for MySpace)

* I saw a countdown thingy on Brooke's MySpace that I really like and could not do it on Blogger (4 for MySpace)

* BIG downer for MySpace...WAY, WAY, WAY too much stuff is advertised with girls who ain't wearing enough to be decent! It's in the ads, it's in the free layouts, in other free customizations for your site and even on the page where I OK messages to make sure they are not inappropriate. The message is appropriate, but the girl in the bikini advertising a "personal" date certainly is not. This definitely scores some negative points for MySpace.

So, for now I'm going to post the majority of my blogs in both places and see what kind of response I get. I think I'm also going to continue to look for way to put a photo slide show on my Blogger site.

Have an opinion? Let me know what you think.

- Rob

P.S. Oops...no spell check for MySpace blogging? Lose another point!

Added 8/31/-6 - See post dated for Aug. 31. Everywhere I turned on MySpace there were ladies WAY under-dressed. Too much for me to feel good about. Bye, Bye MySpace.