These days it seems we just can't get away from Myspace. It is a common topic on blogs, in newspapers and I have even seen numerous stories about it on TV. I hear Myspace come up in everyday conversations between people, and we aren't just talking about high school kids. Myspace for the moment is everywhere and I will not deny that I love it.
For this post, I am not going to discuss the effect Myspace has had on social media and our culture. I am not going to discuss the latest spamming techniques that have been going on within the community and I am not going to talk about how people need to be more careful about using it.
What I am going to do is take a step away from all of these issues and talk about one of the things that make MySpace fun and popular - customizing your own page. Adding backgrounds, music, slide shows, animations, videos, sparkling banners, etc. It’s a little silly but I love that Myspace allows you to make it your own, and based on its popularity I think other people do to. Here are a few of my favorites:
MySpace Backgrounds/Layouts
MySpace backgrounds are very easy to figure out. Simply find one you like, copy the code provided and paste it into the ‘About Me’ section of your profile.
Be careful though. A search for ‘myspace layouts’ will return about 9 million websites all claiming to have the best ones around. Most of these sites are very spammy and almost every single one of them will add a bit of code to include their name and URL on your Myspace page. After going through about 50 of these I have two or three that I like to use:
http://www.myspacepimper.com/
http://www.freecodesource.com/
*Here is a trick is to remove the images and URLs the website puts into the layout- Once you paste the code into the ‘About Us’ section of your profile, search for the URL of the website you got it from. (It will usually be encased it div tags) Simply delete everything between the <div> and </div> tags and you should have a clean page.
MySpace Music
Myspace did a great job by making this as easy as it could possibly be. Simply go to the music tab within Myspace and search for the artist you desire.
Click on the artist’s profile (make sure it’s the correct one) and click ‘add’ for the song you want. Again, be forewarned. Like most things on the internet some of the music can be deceptive. Aside from songs being removed due to copyright infringement, some are being edited just for Myspace. I found a song I really enjoyed on the radio and added it to my page. When I checked my profile, the artist had added a verse to the front of the song thanking people for listening to him and then giving instructions on how to add his album cover photo to your profile.
Adding Videos and Slide Shows
Some other things you can put on your page include videos and slide shows. Videos can be added from Myspace, Youtube and pretty much any other sites on the internet that offers video codes. If you have the know-how, Myspace also allows you the ability to upload your own videos.
Adding a video is just as easy as adding a layout. Simply copy the code and paste it into the particular section you want your video to show up in. Unlike the layouts, video codes do not have to go in the ‘About Me’ space, they can be placed in any section. When using videos from Youtube or Myspace, you are given a URL and an ‘Embed’ code. Choose the embed code or the video will not show up on your site.
To create slideshows from your digital pictures there are quite a few options. Just searching the term ‘myspace slideshows’ will bring you about 2.5 million results. To make things easier, here are two sites that I have seen the most and don’t appear to cause any issues with spam. You do have to create accounts with them but they are free.
www.slide.com
www.slideroll.com
Conclusion
These are just a few things you can do to customize your Myspace page. Yes adding backgrounds and videos are silly. But just for a minute, stop thinking about how Myspace can be used for branding or marketing purposes. Stop worrying about the effect it is going to have on our society or what kid is going to get in trouble next for posting something on there he shouldn’t. Just for a minute, don’t take Myspace so seriously and have some fun with it.
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