We’re feeling nostalgic, so we thought it’d be a good idea to look at five ways that Myspace was better than modern social media. Keep reading to discover them.
1. Myspace Introduced Coding to Millions
Before there were easy-to-use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you used to have to code your own profiles if you wanted something outstanding.
You’d have to learn a bit of HTML and CSS to pull off some of the designs we take for granted these days. Although that may seem burdensome in the instant gratification culture we live in, it helped develop skills that were also useful professionally.
If you chose to progress your coding skills beyond Myspace, for example, you could have landed high-value jobs in careers like computer engineering or app-building.
Myspace showed people that they could accomplish their own vision with a little motivation in the right areas of life. If you wanted to have music playing in the background as someone entered your profile, you’d have to code it. Want a unique background that no one else has? You needed to code it.
In a world where everything on our computers and smartphones is coded, Myspace allowed users to learn what was happening behind the scenes. It gave an appreciation of how the “magic” is made.
2. Myspace Profiles Were More Personal
With social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok taking the lead, the emphasis has been more on how we use the platform and less on individuality. And while they’re easy to use, it’s harder for many users to be themselves and stand out.
Myspace gave us more control and empowered people to make their own choices about who they were. You could code different features into your profile, such as hiding your top friends or changing what your links said. Blogs and groups could have their own customizable pages too.
When you go to a group on Facebook today, the layout is exactly the same. This is also the case when you visit your friends’ profiles. The only variable that changes is the content itself.
With Myspace, every single page you visited could be an entirely different layout and design. It created excitement, and you immediately had a feeling of who you might have a connection with.
3. Myspace Didn’t Have Tons of Ads
Social media platforms today have engineered how they’re designed to keep you on them for as much time as possible. They want you to see as many ads as possible, too. Before there was such a rush to capitalize on social media, the majority of your feed was built to actually show your friend’s posts.
Nowadays, most of your feed is dominated by advertisements because this is how platforms are able to make money.
Back in the day of Myspace, advertisements on the internet—let alone Myspace itself—were not nearly as common as they are today. As a result, Myspace could operate without shoving a bunch of ads in your profile or social feed.
Luckily, hope isn’t lost if you’re looking for a more retro experience. If you want to find social media apps without algorithms or ads, check out our top recommendations.
4. Music Was Integrated Into the Platform
For most of the 2000s, discovering new music was a lot more complicated than it is today. And for many people, MySpace was the place to go.
That’s what made Myspace so special for bands and music lovers. It capitalized on the popularity of music with the younger generation and integrated it into the platform itself.
You could play a song as people entered your profile or build your own playlists. You could search for music on the platform and find random bands to listen to their tracks. In effect, it was something like what Spotify has become today.
Without the huge abundance of music that we have today, this was a gold mine of possibilities. There were a lot of stars who got noticed on Myspace early on in their careers, and the same goes for social celebrities.
The British singer Adele, who has won several Grammys, was discovered on Myspace. A friend of hers posted a demo, and the track went viral. She ended up getting signed to a label and releasing her demo as a single that year.
5. You Always Had Tom as a Friend
When you open up a new social media profile, you are welcomed with a huge zero in the friends or followers column. That wasn’t the case with Myspace because you always had Tom.
Tom was always sitting away from you in his profile picture. However, his head turned slightly towards you with a friendly smile on his face. There was a whiteboard behind him with a bunch of writing you couldn’t read, but something about his demeanor made you feel at ease.
As soon as you joined Myspace, Tom was automatically added as your very first friend. Not a single one of the millions of people who started a profile was ever left without a friend.
You could remove Tom if you ever felt his presence wasn’t needed. Otherwise, he’d remain in the background of your friend list. And for some, he’d end up in their top eight friends list.
“Tom” is actually Tom Anderson, who co-founded the network in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. His profile picture has never changed throughout the entirety of Myspace. In fact, he still has the same image on Instagram and Twitter!
They Don’t Make Them Like Myspace Anymore
Social media has become an integral part of our lives, and Myspace was one of the early pioneers. We owe a lot to the platform, which changed the digital landscape as we know it.
Although Myspace still exists, most users have gone elsewhere—so it’s not as fun as it used to be. Still, modern social media has a lot of perks that you can enjoy.
