As far as social networking sites are concerned, Myspace was was the first real superstar. Sure, Friendster has been around longer, and Facebook has pretty much taken over the game, but it's really impossible to deny that Myspace was the first place most people went for their social networking fix. All its flaws aside, Myspace was the first site to get it "right enough" for nearly everyone you knew/know to sign up.

Now, as Facebook's numbers top 250,000,000, and Myspace's members dwindle, leave, or simply float around in cyber space like zombies, many internet socialites trash or deny any credit to the former king. "Myspace is full of bots and bands," people often say. "On Facebook, all of my friends are really my friends." I'll admit, Facebook is certainly a cleaner operation. Bots are few and far between, ads are (mostly) non-intrusive, and the privacy options make for a seriously controlled friend situation. But this all begs the question: Is it any fun?

Part of what made Myspace exciting was the idea that any individual or band could have as many "friends" as he or it could grab, respectively. If you chose to keep your profile tight, clean, and full of "real" friends, you could certainly do so, but if you wanted 10,000 smiling faces (or shots of cleavage) on your page, you could rack up on bands, bots, and movie promotions, and never have to feel lonely again. Of course this meant for a false sense of reality and companionship, but come on, it is virtual after all. Making it in a band or as an artist today is tough, and there's something nice about having a large group of friends, real or otherwise, even if they don't come to your shows or buy your cds. Sometimes the self-esteem boost is enough.

The real irony is that in its quest for authenticity, Facebook makes for a more sterile environment. Sure, all my friends on Facebook are real, but should I ascribe such a spectre of reality to a virtual world anyway? Having 100 real friends and 400 fake friends only reminds me that the online world isn't the real world. It's a world I enter to play, customize and create an image that I can't otherwise maintain in reality. There are extremes, surely, but the real quest is a healthy balance between the real "me" and my online presentation. With Myspace I could customize to my heart's content, with Facebook, we're all blue and white.

Still, there's no denying that Myspace is a total mess, and that's why it is all but dead. But at least things felt equal there. A friendless existence is impossible on Myspace. Even without a single friend, one could never really be alone. I guess, in that way, Facebook is more like reality. As cliques become tighter, bands become increasingly ignored, and privacy becomes even more staunch and customizable, Facebook will come to resemble the world as we know it, exclusionary and sterile, just like the highschools the kids on Myspace all go to.