Is MySpace really a danger zone? (Part 1)

"Growing number of child molestors using MySpace to arrange meetings with minors"

"Teenage girl kidnapped by older man she met on MySpace"

The recent media blitz regarding MySpace has snowballed in the recent months. Parents, teachers and other school officials all over the country are calling for the banning of MySpace. Will they succeed?

No.

Why not? Because MySpace is free, fun... and everyone is doing it. MySpace is not anymore dangerous than any school, mall, neighborhood park.

Still this doesn't mean that MySpace users couldn't benefit from a little common sense while navigating through MySpace. The surprising thing is that MySpace offers tools and options for users to take control of their profile. Many users just don't know that those options exist.

I've compiled a list of options/tips that you can use to protect yourself on MySpace and take control of your profile.

1) Private profile Yes, MySpace allows users to have a private profile. Having a private profile means that only those users on your friend's list will be able to view your profile. Unfortunately, this privacy option is only available to MySpace's younger users. That being said, some adults simply change their age under Edit Profile-Basic Info to use this feature. Be warned -- MySpace has a policy about adult users doing this. Yet, it's a good to know that it is available for younger teens.*

2) Require Last Name/Email Address To Add As Friend Tired of getting random friend requests from strangers? Change this setting and users will have to enter either your email address or last name to be able to complete the add process. **

3) Hide Your Online Status Don't want other users to know when you're online. Change this setting and the "Online Now" icon won't appear next to your photo when other users see it. **

4) The 'About Me' Survey This popular survey is posted on many users profiles as a way to introduce yourself. It's all in fun... except for a few questions. The survey asks for your full name, birth place and date of birth. Do not post this information! Anyone viewing this information could use it to piece together your identity and find your address, phone number, social security number, request a background check, even break into your email. Never reveal this information to anyone who you don't already know.

*Changes can be made under Edit Profile - Basic Info. Read MySpace's policy regarding this option.

**Changes can be made under Account Settings - Privacy Settings.

Want more tips? Stay tuned for Part 2...

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Is your ex checking you out on Myspace?

It's true.

Your ex could have viewed your myspace profile 44 times last week.

Your manager could be viewing your profile on a daily basis.

You could have some crazy cyberstalker that you don't know about.

Unfortunately you may never know, because Myspace doesn't allow you to see who viewed your page. That was until a little site popped up a while ago by the name of Profilesnoop.com.

Profilesnoop.com's motto is "Snoop on them while they snoop on you". How many of us haven't secretly viewed the pages of our exes, enemies, old high school crushes, co-workers, etc.? We all do it.

Profilesnoop.com provided you with a code to input into your myspace profile. This code would track all visitors that viewed your site, literally snapping a photo of them When you signed on your profilesnoop.com account, it had all that information neatly summarized and ready for you to view.

I was on the of the lucky ones who actually got to use it before it was shut down by Myspace. For about a week, I had this wonderful little tool on my profile. It was just a bit of code, entered in the "Who I'd like to meet" section, not visible to anyone but myself.

It captured photos of anyone who viewed my profile, along with the date, time and IP address. I would automatically be re-directed to a person's mypsace profile by clicking on their photo. Some were my own friends, others were a huge surprise. I found out that I was getting regular views from the last guy I dated and his on-again/off-again girlfriend. Who knew? We're not even friends!

Of course, it was too good to last. Only five days after I registered with the site, the forums were buzzing with talk about the code being stripped from their profiles, along with all the text and photos in their "Who I'd like to meet" section. Apparently, the code is in violation of myspace's privacy policy.

By the next day, it was gone from my profile as well. I was sad to see it go.

Is it right for Myspace to block me from being able to know who visits my profile? Maybe. Maybe not.

I'm sure it won't be long before profilesnoop.com manages to find a way to get back up and running or all the other other copy-cat sites start popping up. And when they do, I'll be there... ready to sign up.

So my question is this: Given the choice... would you want to know who's viewing your myspace profile? Or would you rather keep it the way it is now?

Do you really want to know?


Tanna Frederick on MySpace / MySpace Confessions / MySpace Add Me Page

MySpace or Yours: The Index

02.27 Is Your Ex Checking You Out On MySpace?

It's true. Your ex could have viewed your myspace profile 44 times last week. Your manager could be viewing your profile on a daily basis.You could have some crazy cyberstalker that you don't know about.

02.28 Is MySpace Really a Danger Zone? Part 1

The recent media blitz regarding MySpace has snowballed in the recent months. Parents, teachers and other school officials all over the country are calling for the banning of MySpace. Will they succeed?

03.02 Not So Much About MySpace Danger, Just More Tips (Part 2)

I promised you more tips, so here they are...

03.07 Have You Seen MySpace: The Movie?

If you're on MySpace, you'll love this movie. David Lehre and Jeremy Kerr wrote, filmed, edited and scored this film within a 2-month span. Lehre was recently offered a development deal by MTVU.

03.11 Is Your Ex Checking You Out On MySpace? (Part 2)

It's back! ProfileSnoop is up and running again.

03.13 MySpace On Your TV?

Well, sort of. FOX is launching My Network TV in September 2006. Just what kind of programming will be on My Network TV? Here's a rundown...

03.14 MySpace Layouts: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Where can you get the hottest MySpace layouts? Well, that depends who you ask...

03.17 Friend Adders For MySpace -- Do They Really Work?

I've always wondered how those MySpace Friend Adder programs worked. But everytime I go to research it, I run into a brick wall because they all seem to come with a hefty price tag. And I'm not interested in buying something that may not even work.

03.19 The One Billion Page View Guy On MySpace

Check out this guy's page One Billion Page Views. Started by a 26-year old Brit, his goal is to reach one billion page views without any kind of paid marketing. Can he do it? As of this posting he's at 475,982. Anything is possible...

03.27 Who's Viewing Your MySpace Profile?

It looks like ProfileSnoop is having some problems these days. At least, mine hasn't worked for a while now. So, what can you do if you want to know whose viewing your MySpace profile?

04.02 MySpace Trackers! Here's the Latest...

Who's viewing me on my MySpace? That's what everyone wants to know. Unfortunately, there is still no working MySpace tracker. They keep being shut down by MySpace.Here's a rundown of the MySpace Trackers who have tried... and been shut down...

04.05 Is ProfileSnoop Working Again?

It sure looks that way. I received this email today:

www.profilesnoop.com is back in action with 2 new tracking codes. We are the largest myspace tracker website out there member wise with 159,280 members as of this email. Just go to www.profilesnoop.com and login to your account and click get code and follow the directions it's 100REE.

04.05 Most Popular TV Shows - MySpace Groups

This time I'm focusing solely on MySpace groups about your favorite TV shows.

04.06 Technical Difficulties Yesterday

Due to a technical difficulty (ok, ok, my mistake), yesterday's post did not go out to all of our Bloglet subscribers. Sorry about that...

04.08 The Hottest MySpace Layouts

Looking for the hottest MySpace layouts for your favorite TV shows and artists?

04.08 Spice Up Your MySpace Photo Album

Have you ever wondered how to change the background in your MySpace photo album? Or maybe you're like me...and you've tried and failed?

04.08 More Cool MySpace Groups

This time we're talking about the coolest Companies/Co-worker MySpace Groups...

04.08 Finally... MySpace or Yours On MySpace!!

I finally had some time to put together a MySpace profile for MySpace or Yours.

04.10 Good TV On MySpace

Want to laugh more? Want to have more fun? Cool. You want to kick it with the Good TV crew. Good TV is Seattle and the world's live 1 hr variety show. Called a cross betwixt Dr Phil and Wayne's World, Good TV proves the point the "non corporate media" is cooler that "corporate media".

04.11 ProfileSnoop News & New MySpace or Yours Blogs

ProfileSnoop is not working anymore. It seems like a never-ending cycle, doesn't it? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

04.18 Beware of MySpace Tracker Scams

There has been such a rush lately for MySpace tracker information that it was really only a matter of time before spam and scams started showing up.

04.19 Read the Latest MySpace Confessions

Have you read MySpace Confessions? I've added two new entries by some great writers with very interesting stories... see for yourself!

04.22 MySpace Tracker Update

OK, so I wrote a post a couple days about MySpace Tracker scams. Since then I've gotten some emails and comments about other MySpace Trackers out there. So here's the latest...

04.22 More Hot MySpace Layouts

I stumbled across a cool site with some really HOT MySpace Layouts. Here's a few of my favorites...

04.22 Retro MySpace Layouts

If you're into retro layouts or just feeling a little nostalgic -- here are some cool MySpace layouts for you :P

04.23 Cool Businesses On MySpace

Many entrepreneurs these days are setting up MySpace profiles for the added promotion. If you have an online business, blog or website -- you need to be on MySpace.

04.26 Code for MySpace Send Message Button

Get your own SEND MESSAGE button...

04.27 Code for MySpace Add Me Button

Get your own ADD ME button...

04.30 Any Skaters On MySpace?

Now skaters can get up-to-date rolling news on their MySpace pages for free! Roller Warehouse, a California skate company, will provide you with the HTML code to input into your profile.

05.04 A Working MySpace Tracker?

Does a working MySpace Tracker really exist? Some of you are saying...yes.

05.05 To All Bloglet Subscribers

Those of you who had previously signed up to receive email notifcations everytime new content was posted to this blog, may have noticed that nothing has been sent out lately. There seems to be an issue with the email notification service that I was using. So I think it's time for a switch.

05.08 Free MySpace Trackers... Sort Of

No, it's not a magic MySpace tracker like some sites claim to have. But here are a few links to real sites that will help you get some information about who's viewing your MySpace profile.

05.20 The MySpace ADDiction - MySpace Add me Groups

What's a great way to add lots of new MySpace friends? Try posting your "Add Me Button" or "Whore Me Code" on one (or more) of the many MySpace groups dedicated to adding more friends.

06.11 Can You Buy Friends on MySpace?

We've all heard of friend-collecting... people who whore themselves out and run train after train in an effort to up their friends list on MySpace. But this guy is taking it one step further. He wants to pay you to be his friend.

06.11 Guy Loses Job For Posing As His Boss On MySpace

The details are a bit sketchy on this story but here's the gist of it...

06.11 Find Out When Your Friends Become Single

Singlestat.us lets you check the relationship status of anyone on MySpace.

06.11 Automatically Track Your Friends' Top 8

Now you can automatically track anybody's Top 8 using FeedYes.com. Simply sign up for the service and track any changes through your favorite RSS reader.

07.23 New Look

MySpace or Yours has a whole new look! What do you think?

07.25 Supicious Behavior From ProfilePeep

A while back, I was contacted by a Profilepeep user who asked me to help spread the word about suspicious behavior from the owner of Profilepeep.

07.29 Popular Car & Racing Groups on MySpace

Check out links to the most popular car groups on MySpace!

07.30 MySpace's "Flash 9" Update (by Jeremy)

Read the first submission by Myspace or Yours' new writer, Jeremy! As of this week, Myspace has implemented a new procedure to encourage its users to use the next update to flash player: Flash 9. The leader at the helm of Myspace, Tom, sent out a text function over Myspace that you will likely be redirected to when opening your homepage.

08.02 A New, Dirty Scheme..

These companies have been having users post bulletins with links to their sites, with inviting things such as free laptops, free clothes, free iPods, and much more free stuff.

08.03 Professionional MySpace Stalker

These days, you can get paid for almost anything. Get paid for blogging, get paid for shopping, get paid for trying out new products, etc. But what if you could get paid for just being on MySpace?

08.04 MySpace Enters The IM Arena

With the upcoming release of the non-beta, official MySpace IM, I feel that it's worthwhile to see what this new instant messenger client can bring to the ring.

08.05 Get The Free MySpace Guardian Toolbar

MySpace Guardian helps protect parents and children from potential predators on MySpace. If this sounds like something you'd like to have, head to MySpace Guardian to download the toolbar today. (Thanks Randy!)

08.05 The Multiple Personalities of Tom

Here's a fun group where group members post pics of different "Tom's"...