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The dirty little secret of MySpace

Wired News: Are Socialites Still Networking? Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of the competing site MySpace, claims that when one looks at the number of unique users, his company is getting 8 times the volume of Friendster. The site, which allows people as young as 16 to sign up, takes what DeWolfe calls a portal strategy, combining social networking with blogs, games and music. MySpace launched a year and a half ago.

"We don't believe social networking is the end-all, be-all," said DeWolfe.

MySpace users tend to be on the younger side, typically between the ages of 16 and 32. The company has used its youthful user base as a selling point for advertisers, who are its main source of revenue.

The dirty little secret of MySpace - and a key part of their success - is the fact that a large chunk of their users are under 16. Kids of this age have no problem entering a bigger number in the "age" field on signup.

Either that or there are a lot more 30 and 40 year-olds attending intermediate and high school than I would have thought :).