MySpace Tips & Articles

Get the latest articles from My Space Recommends. Subscribe to our RSS feed.

Everyone has the same problem on MySpace at one time or another. You’re on the site checking out other people’s profiles, and you wonder if maybe something is wrong with your computer because it’s going so slowly. You glance over at your cable modem lights – yep, they’re on. You quickly open another tab and check to see if another page will load. Yes – Google’s home page loads up just fine. So, you figure it must be MySpace.

You’re right. MySpace users are all too well aware of the lag time they experience sometimes when attempting to navigate through the web site. Even on a fast computer with a cable modem, sometimes it seems as if you will be waiting forever for someone’s profile page to load. MySpace has issues at time, for sure! Also, the web site will occasionally experience downtimes when maintenance and other fixes are taking place.

To be fair, MySpace is not always the problem. Some people do so much customization to their profile page that it can cause their servers to balk at the load. This can cause a wait of several minutes for you before the page comes up. This can slow your computer down as well! So, what can you do about this? Is there any way to make these MySpace pages come up faster?

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace profile, photos, widgets

Almost everyone who has a MySpace profile has at least one widget in place to customize their profile – probably more than one. Widgets are practically indispensible when it comes to tricking out your page. There’s a widget for every taste and every personality out there. Why are MySpace widgets so wonderful, you may ask?

Widgets do it all! They add color and glitter, movement and sound to make an ordinary web page come alive. They can customize and enhance your profile in ways you probably have only imagined. No other MySpace hack is as versatile as a widget created for use on a MySpace profile. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to discover that some enterprising soul had developed a widget that would allow you to watch cable television while updating your Friends list or changing your Headline! If you make the rounds of all your peep’s profiles, all those cool little gadgets you see are widgets. There are widgets that will –

• Display your photos for you in slideshow format – as many photos as you want in several display sizes which you can specify. Two great widgets that will do this for you are Slide and Rock You. Both are totally online. There’s no need to download anything, just upload your photos and add captions, graphics and even music! If you’re a little timid about changing anything on your profile for fear of messing it up, no need to worry – these two widgets will even upload the finished slideshow to your MySpace page for you!

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace profile, MySpace widgets

Almost everyone has music on their MySpace page. Either they use the music player that is provided by the site, or they add a widget such as the one from Project Playlist.com. Many people have found that there are a couple of problems with using either of these. One is that the MySpace player limits you to one song, and you run the risk of having it deleted by the artist, leaving you with no music at all on your page until you discover what happened. The other is that the widget player sometimes won’t play one or more of the songs you have chosen, stalls, or songs get deleted from the server, leaving you with a silent space in the midst of your playlist.

You really like the music you put on your profile page – it wouldn’t be there if you didn’t! But some of your friend’s choices can kind of get on your nerves, especially if you go to their page often. The same song plays each time, and you are guilty of turning your speakers down! Have you ever thought that maybe your own music choices could have the same effect on someone? Like it or not, no one wants to hear the same song over and over again.

What can you do about this? Is there a solution that will please everyone? Yes, there is – and it’s called Streaming Radio. By adding streaming radio to your profile instead of using a music player, visitors to your page will get the same variety of music that a radio station provides. In essence, you are actually adding a radio station to your MySpace, and here’s how you do it.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace editor, MySpace profile

It’s kind of a hassle, isn’t it? You’re sitting at your computer typing away, when all of a sudden you hear your cell phone chirping at you. You recognize the tone – it means you have a new text message. You sigh as you reach for the phone. It isn’t that you don’t want to text your friend back. It’s just that you were right in the middle of checking out a few profiles on MySpace. “Wouldn’t it be nice”, you think as your fingers fly across the cell phone keys “If I could text people right here on MySpace? Then I could do everything right here in one place!”

Guess what? Now you can text your friends right from your MySpace profile page! No more texting with one eye on the computer screen to see what’s happening online. You can text back and forth with anyone who has a cell phone once you add this nifty little to your page. The texting is anonymous, meaning that your cell phone number does not show up, so you don’t have to worry about someone on the internet getting hold of it.

Don’t think you can use this widget to prank people with though. Sure, you could, but be aware that your IP address is logged by the service every time you send a text message. If your text prank gets a little nasty, someone might try to turn you in! Don’t take that chance.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace profile

You’ve probably noticed more and more people are using animated avatars all over the web. They have become especially popular on MySpace, and it’s a lot of fun to browse through the different profiles and see the creative avatars that people have come up with. After seeing several avatars that intrigued you, you have probably decided that you’d like an animated avatar on your own profile.

There are several ways that you can create an animated avatar to place on your MySpace profile. One way is to use a couple of freeware applications which are called Gimp and Movie Snapshot. Movie Snapshot takes a thumbnail sized clip out of any video you may have on your hard drive, and Gimp is used to manipulate the video clip in order to create your avatar. Of course, there’s more to the creation of an avatar with these programs than meets the eye. If you don’t want to spend a whole lot of time fiddling around with a Photoshop clone, trying to get your image exactly the way you want it, then you need a faster and easier solution to get your avatar up and running. There is a much easier way, and it’s called Meez.

Meez is a website which you can use to make an avatar of yourself. This avatar is a rendered, three dimensional figure that is amazingly lifelike and almost infinitely customizable. You will be amazed at what you can do with Meez! And, the avatar you make can be used anywhere on the internet. Some people try to get their Meez avatar to look as much like themselves as possible, while others go for a totally opposite effect. With a huge selection of items such as hair styles and colors, facial expressions, clothing and accessories, and backgrounds to choose from, you can change your look as often as you want.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: avatars, MySpace profile

Most MySpace devotees spend a lot of time browsing through the site checking out the profiles of others. This is a great way to find new friends, and also a great way to run across some absolutely killer themes! You’ll see themes that you never dreamed existed! Where did these people find these great themes, and how can you get one of them for yourself?

Themes are definitely the thing that gets you noticed on MySpace. The default theme that you get when you first join MySpace is definitely nothing special. No one is going to give your page much attention with that theme. The more people that notice your profile, the more friend requests you will get. This theory has been tested and proven time and time again. When people see a great theme that they really like, they not only will more than likely send you a Friend Request, they will also probably tell their friends to check it out. Those friends tell some of their friends, who tell some of theirs, and on and on it goes – sort of a domino effect!

Now, let’s get something straight. A killer theme is not necessarily one with all the bright colors, glitter graphics, tons of videos and a dozen widgets. Yes, a theme like that will attract attention, all right – the wrong kind of attention. Think about it this way. When you have lots and lots of different things on your profile, it can take it quite a while to load up. What if the person on the other end has dial up? Not everyone is fortunate enough to have high speed internet. And even if they do, a page full of several different types of streaming content is going to take a little time to load for someone with a fast computer AND a fast connection.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace profile, MySpace themes

More and more MySpace users are discovering how to pimp their pages by embedding videos from MySpace into the mix of text and graphics that makes a profile come to life. These videos can also be embedded into your MySpace blog, or even left as comments for your friends! YouTube and MySpace seem to play really well together – the two of them are truly a winning combination.

Many people are confused as to how to use YouTube videos on MySpace. It’s really quite easy! Once you have done it a couple of times, it will seem as if you have been doing it forever. Then, you can have fun browsing through MySpace and choosing videos that go with your blog posting, videos that can stand alone as a comment, or videos that will live on your profile page and make a statement about you and your likes and dislikes.

Now, I’m sure you want to know just how to get that elusive YouTube video onto your MySpace, right?

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: myspace videos, youtube

As you look at other profiles while browsing MySpace, you can’t help but notice how many people have slide shows on their pages to show off their photos. Some of these slide shows are the type that MySpace provides to everyone who has a profile.

These are nice enough, but come across as rather plain and generic. The slide shows that you have noticed are much more eye catching. Some have music added to them as well as captions, text, glitter text, sparkles, hearts… you’ve seen a mind-boggling array of pure bling that really dresses up the slide show. Other shows you’ve come across have skins, themes, and background graphics. All of these extras give the photos a fresh new look, and really showcases them to their best advantage.

How can you put one or more of these flash side shows on your own profile?

It’s easy to add both the slide shows and the extras. The most difficult thing you will encounter is picking out the photos you want to show off! There are several options for you to choose from in order to set up a flash show for yourself. All of them are quite good. Some may have a few more options than others; the choice is yours based on what you want to see on your profile.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace photos, MySpace Profiles

Avatars are a cool way to express your mood or something you believe in strongly, and they can really dress up a MySpace profile. What’s an avatar? It is a small to medium sized graphic, sometimes animated, sometimes not, and almost always eye-catching and colorful. Browse some of the top profiles, and you will be convinced of their popularity. One reason that avatars are used in heavy rotation is because they are an easy way to tell the world what you are thinking or feeling

There are so many different types of avatars available that you could add a new one to your profile daily for a couple of years, and still not be even close to using them all. Just a few of the categories you can find by doing a search for “MySpace avatars” include –

• Animals
• Anime
• Cartoons
• Fantasy
• Funny
• Games
• Holidays
• Love
• Movies
• Music
• Sports

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace Comments, MySpace Layouts, MySpace Profiles

So you’ve joined MySpace and have your basic profile in place. You’ve made and received a few Friend Requests, but things seem to be moving along a little too slow for you. What can you do to really get noticed?

One important rule is that the more you put into MySpace, the more satisfaction you will get out of it, and the more appealing it will be to others.  This is true when it comes to making friends on the site as well as building your profile page. Let’s start with your profile page. You really want your page to be a little different from the thousands of others out there! There are tons of resources all over the Web that you can use to make you page a stand out work of art that visitors will remember and want to visit again and again.

It is helpful to have a theme for your profile page, be it music, sports, television or movies, or whatever hobbies you may have. By doing this, you will attract others who have the same interests as you, as well as those who just appreciate a well-done web page. Photos are always quite popular to browsers, and the more photos you have on your profile, the more popular it will be. Slideshows and videos are also attention-getters.

Make sure your page is easy to read and contains interesting content which will hold your reader’s attention.  People will return to your page often to see if you have added anything new, and most will leave a comment, which will build up your Comments section nicely.

Continue reading »

written by Jess \\ tags: MySpace Comments, MySpace Layouts, MySpace Profiles