Editing Myspace (section)

===2003–2005: Beginnings and rise===
[[File:Foxinteractivemediaheadquarters.jpg|thumb|Fox Interactive Media's former headquarters in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]], California, before 2016, where Myspace was also housed (now home to [[Fandango Media|Fandango]])]]

In August 2003, several [[Intermix Media|eUniverse]] employees with [[Friendster]] accounts saw potential in its social networking features. The group decided to mimic the more popular features of the website. Within 10 days, the first version of MySpace was ready for launch, implemented using [[ColdFusion]].<ref name="bw-20110622">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-06-22/the-rise-and-inglorious-fall-of-myspace|title=The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace|author=Felix Gillette|date=June 22, 2011|newspaper=Bloomberg Businessweek|access-date=June 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202173130/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-06-22/the-rise-and-inglorious-fall-of-myspace|archive-date=2019-12-02}} [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625031242/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm |date=June 25, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="business of spam">{{cite web|last=Lapinski |first=Trent |title=MySpace: The Business of Spam 2.0 (Exhaustive Edition) |url=http://valleywag.com/tech/myspace/myspace-the-business-of-spam-20-exhaustive-edition-199924.php |work=ValleyWag |date=September 11, 2006 |access-date=March 13, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312041913/http://valleywag.com/tech/myspace/myspace-the-business-of-spam-20-exhaustive-edition-199924.php |archive-date=March 12, 2008 }}</ref> A complete infrastructure of finance, human resources, technical expertise, [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]], and server capacity was available for the site. The project was overseen by [[Brad Greenspan]] (eUniverse's founder, chairman and CEO), who managed [[Chris DeWolfe]] (MySpace's starting CEO), Josh Berman, [[Tom Anderson]] (MySpace's starting president), and a team of programmers and resources provided by eUniverse. It was during this early period in June 2003, just prior to the birth of MySpace, that [[Jeffrey Scott Edell|Jeffrey Edell]] was brought on as chairman of parent company Intermix Media.

The first MySpace users were eUniverse employees. The company held contests to see who could sign up the most users.<ref>{{cite book|last=Percival|first=Sean|title=MySpace Marketing|year=2008|publisher=Que|location=Indianapolis, Ind.|isbn=978-0-7897-3709-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r0OZBiiWBkMC&q=myspace+euniverse+contests&pg=PT49|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=January 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122152732/https://books.google.com/books?id=r0OZBiiWBkMC&q=myspace+euniverse+contests&pg=PT49|url-status=live}}</ref> eUniverse used its 20 million users and e-mail subscribers to breathe life into MySpace<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemyspace.com/N.jpg |title=Welcome to |publisher=Freemyspace.com |access-date=July 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623233215/http://freemyspace.com/N.jpg |archive-date=June 23, 2010 }}</ref> and move it to the head of the pack of social networking websites. A key architect was tech expert Toan Nguyen, who helped stabilize the platform when Greenspan asked him to join the team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemyspace.com/09-03-03-f.jpg |title=Welcome to |publisher=Freemyspace.com |access-date=July 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623233225/http://freemyspace.com/09-03-03-f.jpg |archive-date=June 23, 2010 }}</ref> Co-founder and CTO [[Aber Whitcomb]] played an integral role in software architecture, utilizing the then-superior development speed of ColdFusion over other dynamic database driven server-side languages of the time. Despite having over ten times the number of developers, [[Friendster]], which was developed in [[JavaServer Pages]] (jsp), could not keep up with the speed of development of MySpace and [[ColdFusion Markup Language|cfm]]. For example, users could customize the background, look and feel of pages on MySpace.

MySpace originally gained users because of how easy it made to communicate with other users. Before MySpace debuted, many people communicated online through Instant Messaging or IM. However, MySpace got so popular that people started to use MySpace to message people even more than IM. This was especially true in bigger cities that had more people compared to suburbs that still used IM more.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors=Zhao, Shanyang| journal=CyberPsychology & Behavior | title=Teen Adoption of MySpace and IM: Inner-City versus Suburban Differences| volume=12 | issue=1 | pages=55–58 | date= February 2009 | doi=10.1089/cpb.2008.0090 | pmid=19006460 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23470864 }} </ref>

[[File:MySpace logo.svg|thumb|left|class=skin-invert|alt=old logo|MySpace logo used from June 2004 to October 2010]]

The MySpace.com domain was originally owned by YourZ.com, Inc., intended until 2002 for use as an online data storage and sharing site. By late 2003, it was transitioned from a file storage service to a social networking site. A friend who also worked in the data storage business reminded DeWolfe that he had earlier bought the MySpace.com domain.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news|last=Sellers|first=Patricia|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/09/04/8384727/index.htm|title=money.cnn.com|publisher=CNN|date=August 29, 2006|access-date=July 24, 2010}}</ref> DeWolfe suggested they charge a fee for the basic MySpace service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemyspace.com/I-2.jpg |title=Welcome to |publisher=Freemyspace.com |access-date=July 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623233236/http://freemyspace.com/I-2.jpg |archive-date=June 23, 2010 }}</ref> However, Greenspan nixed the idea, believing that keeping the site free was necessary to make it a successful community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemyspace.com/?q=node%2F13|title=MySpace History|publisher=FreeMySpace|access-date=July 24, 2010|archive-date=July 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722132216/http://www.freemyspace.com/?q=node%2F13|url-status=dead}}</ref> MySpace quickly gained popularity among teenagers and young adults. In February 2005, DeWolfe held talks with [[Mark Zuckerberg]] over acquiring [[Facebook]], but rejected Zuckerberg's offer to sell Facebook to him for $75 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/01/24/myspacebook/|title=Stories From The Tell-All MySpace Book|first=Michael|last=Arrington|date=January 25, 2009|access-date=October 16, 2017|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808213731/https://techcrunch.com/2009/01/24/myspacebook/|url-status=live}}</ref> Some employees of MySpace, including DeWolfe and Berman, were able to purchase [[Equity (finance)|equity]] in the property before MySpace and its parent company eUniverse (now renamed [[Intermix Media]]) were bought.{{cn|date=February 2023}}