Version 2.0: I space, You space we all space for Myspace

Social networking sites on the internet are nothing new. From friendster to classmates.com to orkut to yahoo360, there are numerous ways for people to connect with friends, both new and old. Most of them, however, have been a short lived phenomenon with the exception of the wildly popular myspace.

Despite a spate of recent bad press myspace has endured and passed the point where it is merely a disposable novelty. The site allows you to setup a profile and add photos, friends, a blog, media, and custom skins. These last features differentiates myspace from the other social networking sites, offering a degree of customization that makes your "space" much more personal. You can add music, videos, and hack your site to add html and java scripts.

As myspace's popularity started growing, garage bands realized the portal was a great way to introduce people to their music and start grass roots marketing for free. Bands could also use the site as a great way to connect directly with their fans and virtually make fans into "friends". The site expanded to setup music charts for major label artists, indie label artists and unsigned acts.

Several formerly obscure bands, such as Hawthorne Heights, AFI, and Gnarls Barkley greatly increased their exposure by setting up myspace accounts. The former two were unsigned acts that signed with major labels after being "discovered" on myspace. The site offers services where new bands can sign up and promote their music through the site. By adding songs to personal profiles users can discover new music through their friends.

Myspace has recently expanded to include books, movies, careers, and comedians. This increased media availability allows artists, writers, filmmakers, and employers to directly connect with their target audience. The site offers a very specialized search tool that allows users to parse data based on a users age, school, or even zip code. With millions of users, many revealing their personal tastes in music, books, and movies the site is a marketers dream. Recently, movies have started adding myspace pages at the end of movie trailers and it is not uncommon for a movie to ask to become your "friend".

Such "grassroots" advertising allows businesses and artists to connect more intimately with users. Having a more personal connection with musicians and filmmakers gives users (and hopefully consumers!) a greater vested interest in the success of a particular movie or song.

Other industries are also trying to get into the action. Sites such as linkedin.com are offering users business networking (vs. social networking) and allows startups and VC's and investors and employers to all "mingle" online. I foresee many other markets benefiting from this user generated hype and awareness.

EDIT: I just read today (Monday) about a new site called prosper.com that offers users the chance to borrow and lend on a peer-to-peer basis!? It's networking with a lending angle. Using the power of community and trust to allow ordinary people to become "VC's" and for those who would rather pay interest to a person rather than a bank, the opportunity to borrow from an individual. Not sure how ssecure the site is, but the concept is interesting.