Every internet user can appreciate social media sites for different reasons. Instagram is the best visual platform; Facebook is fun for extended conversations and sometimes your grandmother's too-conservative rant of the week. Twitter's where you'll find your sports talk and your escape from the elderly. While I have each of these apps on my phone today, a special place in my heart will always go to the O.G., MySpace.
1. There was so much room for activities.
Between your countless sticker boards, notes, profile videos secretly dedicated to your crush, and your rad status updates with the original emoji reel, you knew how to express yourself with total freedom.
2. You could customize literally everything.
Want a background made up of sneezing puppies? You got it. Maybe something darker that shows off your edgy side and proves to your mom that you don't need her advice? You betcha!
3. MySpace taught us the basics of coding.
Because it was such a customizable place, you had to learn all the hacks to making your profile better than your friends'. That meant you learned how to write code for those cool backgrounds MySpace didn't provide, and taught you how to build embedded music players that showed your every profile visitor that you truly were "Your Guardian Angel."
4. You had the ability to make your friends hash it out over your Top 4.
And God forbid you ever had a boyfriend but didn't put him as your Top Friend. The best way to throw a wrench in things was to randomize your Top 8 so no one understood what Gross Steve did to become your BFF all of a sudden.
5. You got to talk about your life and drop hints about your crush on the daily.
This wasn't like a Facebook post. Note tagging was serious business, and you knew when the "ABCs" quiz or any survey you were challenged to came up, you just had to participate or else let down your faithful readers.
The best answer to "Who did you last hug/kiss" was always "Him. C:" That way you knew your friends would ask about it later and you'd supply them with juicy gossip.
6. It was the first chance you really had to connect with your friends outside of school.
Sure, there was AIM and other IM capabilities, but for the first time you got to see your friends' favorite things all on one big wall of pent up teenage aggression. For the first time, you got to publicly dedicate a song or a bumper sticker to the love of your teeny-bopper life. For the first time, you didn't have to worry about running out of minutes on your Tracfone because you could talk online.
If that bad boy doesn't give you nightmares, I don't know what will.
MySpace has made its advances into the entertainment world, and is even becoming a more news based platform. Good for them, they survived the great rapture of the digital media age. However, MySpace will always be king of middle school nostalgia, the era of first kisses and the birth of Straight Edge.
