MySpace Gone International: What It’s Like in a Few Other Countries
Although MySpace has not yet taken the world by storm, as it seems to have done here in America, there is certainly a MySpace presence in many other countries. High school and college students are not automatically members of MySpace, contrary to what seems to be the case here in America, but some international students are members of MySpace. The differences are that a lot of these young people who’ve joined the MySpace revolution are either students who have come to America for a semester or for a year and therefore have come to know the wonderful tool that is MySpace. This type of international MySpace user uses MySpace in order to stay in contact with all the cool friends that he or she met in America, to stay in touch with American culture and music, and for general networking purposes.
In addition to these cultural international MySpace users, there are a very high number of international bands who have created profiles through the website and who seek exposure and connections through the website. This type of user is also highly linked to MySpace, but in a slightly different way than how American bands are linked.
When sitting in an American college classroom, it is unthinkable to turn to the person beside you and ask if they have a MySpace or a Facebook account. It’s pretty much taken for granted that pretty much everyone in America (within this age range) has such a profile and account. However, if you ask that same question to a room full of, say, Dutch college students, the majority of the answers will be, “What’s MySpace?” But at least these Dutch students have Internet and email. A lot of you will be shocked to know that many French college students do not regularly access the Internet. Seriously, it’s the truth. It’s not that they are not tech-savvy-they have the top of the line when it comes to cell phones, but computers and Internet usage are NOT high up on the list of personal priorities. The few students who will proudly say, “Yep, I have a MySpace account!” most likely studied in America. If you go to their profile, you won’t see their French university on their profile, but the school where they were an exchange student in America. Interesting, isn’t it? Also, there’s no such thing as online professor rating in Europe. Not yet at least.
International MySpace users tend to focus either on culture or friends. A lot of international MySpace accounts are created either to stay in touch with American culture or with friends that they have made who are American and who have asked that proverbial question: “Do you have a MySpace account?” Three weeks later, they’ve signed up, and now they do, indeed, have a MySpace account. Artists and bands also seek publicity through MySpace, not to mention girls sitting at home with their webcams. Unfortunately, this hasn’t made its way off the website yet, and this is one area in which America and international sites are pretty much even is their amount of sex-related material.
Although some Americans are quick to join groups about foreign culture, it is an odd thought for many Americans to think about students in other countries forming groups called, “I love America!” and not that it’s odd because a lot of the world hates America right now, but because Americans can’t imagine such all-encompassing love of their own country although they’ll easily join a group called: “J’aime la France!” which is pretty much the same thing in reverse. Despite these differences, with just a little more time, MySpace will be catching on internationally like McDonald’s did all those years ago. It’s only a matter of time.
