See What’s Out There

Maybe because I am just the wrong generation, but I really don’t like MySpace very much. I think it’s ugly. I think it’s not easy to use. I think it’s full of spam. The search feature is really crappy also. (If I have a page at my space and you type in my name in the search engine, it is not too much to expect you will find the page!)

I also think most of the 60+ million people on MySpace are not that interesting. The best pages on MySpace are those from people who are interesting, like my friend Alice Peacock. Alice is an amazing songwriter who has a new album coming out that you must go buy right now! Here’s Alice Peacock’s MySpace page.

It’s pretty cool that she has Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Peter Gabriel as her “friends” on MySpace. And it’s a testament to the importance of MySpace that Alice and her friends have these pages. Alice actually spends time on her page so if you have a MySpace page you should for sure want to be her friend.

I am thinking about MySpace because we are in the middle of building DoGooderTV. Part of what we are trying to do with DoGooderTV is to use the MySpace tools, the social networking, but built around doing good. Yes, I can connect to you on MySpace because we both love Chocolate Shoppe ice cream. And maybe if I was in high school that would seem really important and I would have time for it.

For us grown-ups, let us connect about doing something about Darfur or let’s connect because we both think Global Warming is the real deal, or let’s connect because we both love a girl named Sue. I am imagining the power of the social networking phenomenon when its power is focused on making the world better. That doesn’t have to be boring either, it can be interesting and empowering.