The MySpace Generation keeps growing and growing

Hot on the tail of the amazing article in last week's Business Week, entitled, "The MySpace Generation" (requires signin, but it's free), comScore media have released their newest numbers of users for the various social networking sites. MySpace, itself, is growing by 160,000 users per day. Crazy.? (via: Richard McManus)

Just the other day, while riding the Muni, I overheard a group of kids discussing how they use MySpace: party announcements, finding new bands, dating, journaling, etc.. One young guy was lamenting that he would have to 'give in' and join because he just couldn't function any longer...everyone was using MySpace to communicate and he felt out of the loop. It sounded like similar discussions I heard about cell phones years ago.

So many adults are doubters...naysayers..."Life online?" What's that? What about your offline life? Warning warning warning. Like the image of the geek, sitting in his basement,? eyes peeled to a computer screen, pretending to be some hot stud while 'chatting with babes' online, this perception will change, too.

The truth is, these tools work to enhance our offline life. Like any communications medium that came before (television, radio, telephone, mobile), we are connecting to other human beings - being able to reach further than our small communities. The online communication is a little different and seems to have limitless possibilities: it's interactive, morphing, full of choice, constantly breathing. Sure, it's also a breeding pool for fraud and spam and losers, but as we spend more time there, we are able to more effectively suss out the rif-raf from the good stuff.

The skeptics can say what they want, but the next generation will keep driving everyone else in this direction - even your 'Aunt Bertha' in Wichita. I don't know if it'll be MySpace, or the next big thang, but I really think this follows a great deal of technology adoption: cell phones, iPods, just being online in general, etc...

Hell, I don't understand MySpace, either. Really, I don't. But it's not for me to understand. It's for me to watch with fascination and understand that, within the medium I so adore, it is the tool that young people connect with. What's your tool?

:: in semi-related 'prediction' post, FactoryJoe discusses the social tools that will overtake the previous web generation tools (1.0?)

technorati tags: web2.0, myspace, myspacegeneration, bratpack2.0, lifeonline