How Much is Too Much? Pimping Out Myspace Layouts

We've all seen the gaudy MySpace layouts that have well over their fair share of glitter text, images of alcohol, an overdose of font decorations, and abundance of YouTube videos. The problem with these profiles is that they often take a long time to load, and also very rarely look appealing to the mainstream users of MySpace.

Most users of MySpace have forgotten the original meaning of MySpace- to share friends and to let everyone know what makes you tick. Recently, the MySpace scene has exploded into options for MySpace layouts- with hundreds of different things to add to profiles. Things such as surveys go nicely when adding something to a profile, since it still educates viewers on who and what you are. The abundance of unnecessary items has recently begun to make MySpace another source of spam-like personal websites that existed largely before MySpace.

While these things such as glitter text can be interesting to look at, and can spice up a MySpace layout, the problem with their usage is that they are used too much. First, this impacts the speed of which a MySpace layout loads. Not all of the world’s population has obtained high-speed internet yet, a lot of users still use a 56k modem. This means that basic functions such as commenting on a friend’s profile can take much longer than usual- which defeats the purpose of the MySpace layout in the first place.

Besides speed, the extra effects also will usually make the profile in question “watered down” with useless information. When there are YouTube videos, multiple images, and special effects littering an otherwise clean profile, the actual purpose of the profile gets lost. The purpose of a MySpace profile is to inform friends or possible business clients who you are, and to network with their friends. The appeal of possible friends adding a profile that takes too long to load or doesn’t display enough information is lost, and likewise a new possible friend is lost.

Lastly, spam MySpace profiles will often use a lot of effects such as these to cover up the true purpose of the account. In recent times, MySpace accounts have been used to spam bulletins and comments to advertise a web service or website. To make visitors think it is an actual person wanting friendship, these MySpace entrepreneurs will often add a lot of effects and style to a profile to cover up the true purpose of advertising. If it looks like a spam profile, it usually is.

MySpace layouts have come a long way since the times when everyone used the basic layout that comes with a new MySpace account. Instead, many types of colors, decorations, music, and images have flooded the majority of the 50 million MySpace layouts in existence. While this was to be expected, and adds a sense of creativity and makes each layout more unique, over using certain effects can easily destroy the very purpose of what a Myspace layout should and should not be.