Myspace Mania!

MySpace is a great form of self-expression; you can tell so much about someone from what they choose to put on their MySpace page. Unlike Facebook, MySpace lets you add a lot of visual interest and individuality to you page. That “customization” feature makes MySpace a prime candidate for our study in how a person changes to appeal to a particular audience. I’m going to split the page into categories: pictures, layout, and music.

The picture on the page I chose is pretty simple as far MySpace pictures go. It is just a snapshot of a young woman sitting and smiling at the camera. Her hair is pulled back and she has on a black blouse with a simple silver necklace. She is not wearing much makeup, but she does have some on. There is also a wine glass sitting on the table in front of her. This picture tells me that she is easygoing and laid back. She care about what she looks like and prefers to look classy and natural. It also tells me she is older because of the wine glass; generally you don’t see many high schoolers drinking wine at dinner. She also has a lot of other pictures on her page of her with her friends. This tells me she is a social person who likes to be around other people.

Her layout also shows a lot about her. The background is purple with blue, yellow and light purple little swirls all over it. In the top right box there is a big purple flower with a yellow center and a blue background. Her “message me” box is the same flower with blue swirls on top of it. Her whole layout is very coordinated and unified. Everything matches and nothing looks out of place. This gives me the impression that she is very stylish and likes thing to look cohesive.

The music on her page is “ExFactor” by Lauryn Hill. I’ve heard of the artist, but she is not very mainstream. It is a jazzy, slow, R&B style song. Again, this suggests she is older and more focused on what she likes and not what is playing on the top-40 radio station.

I analyzed her page without reading the “about me” section and then looked at the end to see how close I was. She says she teaches art part time at an elementary school. This explains her beautifully adorned MySpace page. She also loves “pottery, painting, Art History, traveling and a nice glass of red wine!!”