Is MySpace for Adults?

This was my initial question several months ago when a good friend suggested that I establish a MySpace account. I truly hesitated.

As a 36 year old so-called “professional”, I somehow thought that MySpace was reserved for the wanderlust of youth, that I was perhaps a generation too late to fit in with the millions of college and high school students who measured success by the number of friends and comments received on their creatively assembled profile pages. What would my clients think if they saw pictures of me online? Would they look at my profile and extrapolate some fundamental character flaw that would forever preclude me from ongoing consideration? When Googling me, would this page come up and its pure existence be enough to cause them to pause and pass judgment?

Here’s the reality after I decided that experimentation was the best means of assessing the outcome:

a) I have found that every possible geography, demographic, and personality has some form of representation within MySpace.
b) Within my profile, I posed a relatively high level question on today’s workplace and asked people to drop me a note with their thoughts. I have subsequently heard from over 100 individuals across 14 countries, providing a very interesting series of sound bites from a wide variety of perspectives.
c) It’s very easy for your blip on the radar of comedians and musicians to immediately grow. These two groups have really capitalized on what MySpace can offer their careers.
d) Like all online forums, spam still rains down. I’d like to suggest that the spammers get a little more creative with their outreach since their approach is so painfully obvious.
e) I was wrong to be concerned about my client’s reaction. Most of them think it’s pretty interesting and some have said they may even consider giving it a shot.

So in conclusion, MySpace is for adults….and grandparents….and doctors….and kids….and perhaps even you. Sometimes it just takes a little leap of faith to find out the truth.

Let’s keep the conversation going.