The Small but Growing MySpace Economy

Posted on April 12, 2006

The MySpace economy is forming. Forbes says MySpace is creating its own economic ecosystem as small businesses provide tools and software that work with the social networking giant. So far the MySpace Economy is no iPod Economy, but it is something.

The article says Louis Ramos, who runs two MySpace tool sites, Pimp MySpace and Myspace Editor, has earned $200,000 since last June.

Meanwhile, Louis Ramos, a freshman at Southern Illinois University, says he has made more than $200,000 since last June by running Pimpmyspace.com and Myspaceeditor.org, two Web sites that offer MySpace users free tools to upgrade and spruce up their profiles with colors and images. MySpace doesn't build many customization options into users' profiles.
Ramos, who makes money by hosting ads from Google's AdSense and ValueClick's FastClick networks, says he's received six-figure offers from Internet companies interested in buying his sites. "Hundreds of people are doing this," he says. Other programmers offer to overhaul MySpace profiles for a fee, charging several hundred dollars for the service.

Some other sites listing MySpace tools, layouts and tricks not mentioned in the Forbes article include MySpace Hacks, MySpace Layouts, MySpace-Place, Tom is not Your Friend, MySpaceSupport.com, MySpace-Images and MySpaceGrill. There are many of them. The Forbes article says MySpace-related domains and sites are selling these days.

In addition to design aids there are also software programs designed to work with or work around MySpace.com. The article describes software tools that automate MySpace tasks and allow users to surf MySpace anonymously. Another tool we described recently is MySpaceWatch, which is targeted at parents and others that want to keep an eye on multiple MySpace account activity.

The article also mentioned a service called Connected Ventures that has sold hundreds of "Tom is NOT my friend" t-shirts. Tom is Tom Anderson, the Founder of MySpace and a new friend MySpace members automatically acquire when they join MySpace.