For parents of kids these days, myspace.com might be the new rock ‘n’ roll. It might be the new incriminating love letters. It might be the new collage bulletin board.

It’s like a one-stop snooping spot. Just by logging on, parents can learn a lot about their children, their children’s friends and if they’re bored enough, their children’s friends’ friends.

But parents don’t seem to be the only lurkers on myspace.

A quick search for “myspace” on Google News reveals that police, journalists and sexual predators all use the site for their respective interests. Every so often I catch bits and pieces of these news broadcasts about online communities. I must admit that I tend to smile in spite of myself while watching local news anchors clamor in awe of the goings on of online networks. They seem to ask all kinds of misguided questions.

Why in the world would an underage college student post pictures of himself drinking? Why in the world would a 16-year-old girl post scandalous pictures of herself? Why in the world would a graffiti artist post pictures of his work? Do they not realize the world is watching? Do they not realize how dangerous posting personal information on the Internet can be? Do they not realize that authorities have just as much access as they do?

Well, yeah. They know. After all, the kids who are using the sites are the real experts.

And myspace users do know that the world is watching. Many of them actually seek as large an audience as possible. Just ask anyone who spends a modicum of time on the site. They can probably name some myspace celebrities off-handedly. Everyone knows Tom, the founder. He seems like an ordinary guy, but heaven knows how many friends he has. Untalented singer-slash-model Tila Tequila, an exemplary model of myspace marketing, has around 1 million friends. She must keep pretty busy. Then there are the ordinary users who post zillions of comments on other popular users’ homepages. This creates a sort of see-and-be-seen atmosphere that gives online communities a culture of their own.

There are lots of other strategies for being seen, many of which might seem preposterous to outsiders looking in. Getting sexy in photos seems to be a fairly popular choice. Impressing other users with art work, job positions or illegal activity are also commonplace on the site. Decorating homepages with lots of easily recognizable, popular images both expresses personal identity (inviting users with kindred interests) and reflects the accepted culture of other successful myspace users. In my experience, other online communities function in similar ways.

Even users not interested in expanding their list of friends tend to put up information and assemblages that reinforce commonality among smaller groups of friends.

So, to say that all myspace users are engaged in this popularity contest would be inaccurate. But from above, myspace looks something like a high school lunch room – perhaps a weak analogy. Some tables are bigger than others, and there are plenty of people moving from table to table. In general, though, myspace and other sites are made up of niches, and to gain celebrity or get into someone’s top eight, users have to understand the norms to behave in acceptable ways.

Online profiles are not sacred or private like diaries. Even in the event of death, a user’s personal profile can be used as a public record. When The Lantern reported the death of Ohio State student Stephan James Horton in October, his myspace page was used to gather information about his life.

Participation on myspace is like a performance in which users mobilize socially through the site. Oftentimes they seem to forget they are performing in a public space, and their homepages are vulnerable to surveillance by parents, police and predators.

Justin Ling is a senior in journalism with a minor in folklore. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].