Let's make it perfectly clear right from the start - I *hate* Myspace. I hate it in the way I hated text messaging when that first started and I hate it in the way I hated blogging when that first became a craze. I hate it a bit like the fact that I can't afford a new car and I hate it in the same way I hate the fact that I'm getting old.

And because I've embraced texting, blogging and grey hair, I've had no choice but to embrace Myspace too. But I still hate it.

Once you've decided how your Myspace page should look you can start adding content to the page. Fancy being able to put up pictures of you and your mates getting drunk at your graduation? Put them on Myspace. What about that holiday you just took where you snogged the ugliest person at the bar you could find? Put that pic up there too. Bought a new car? Put it on the Myspace page and invariably forget to blot out the number plate - surely nobody'll notice? In your About Me you can tell the world all about yourself and there are sections for your favourite music, favourite TV programmes, favourite hero. I've even seen a Myspace page where the owner put his favourite sexual positions - but I don't think that account exists any more… In truth, it's nothing more than making up your own web page, just using Myspace instead of another Internet Service Provider or website hosting corporation.

Then there's the blog section. In essence, a blog is an area you can write anything you like, telling your readers about your day, what sauce you had with your pasta, how much weight you've lost, whether Take That should have stayed in retirement or not, or you could even use it to write short stories or factual reports in the hope that you'll entertain your readers and catch the attention of the media. To be honest, the blog is my favourite part of the whole website. I've had blogs on several different sites in the past and so I've just emulated my content onto Myspace. The input interface is reasonably easy to use, has full formatting facilities for you to accentuate your text however you like, but it could do with a spell-checker. Once written, post your blog, choosing whether you want everybody in the world to read it or just those who think they're your friends; you can even make an entry completely private, if you just want to keep a diary somewhere for your eyes only.

Growing on their reputation as a space where the hip and trendy like to hang out, Myspace is almost a virtual nightclub, just without the alcohol. There's plenty of loud music to choose from and, in an attempt to jump on the Google Video / Metacafe / YouTube bandwagon, you can download videos that people have uploaded, varying in content and amusement. As with these other sites, you can rate the video and share it with friends and the site hopes that this will simply increase its dominance on the web.

What has made Myspace so successful is its position as a 'social networking' website. It appeals to the younger generation through its ability to allow them to network with friends from schools up and down the country and to find out about events going on in places they would not normally hear about. In an attempt to safeguard the security of members, people can only communicate with each other once they have first become a member of the website (which is free) and then added somebody to their 'friends' list. This, however, is as secure as it gets. Add a 'friend', get accepted - start chatting. It's too easy for people to pretend they're somebody they're not on this site and people from all around the world just add friends in an attempt to gain kudos, notoriety and reputation on Myspace. A lot of members just accept the friendship request in the hopes that they'll grow their social network, with absolutely no idea who it is they're opening up a potential dialogue with. I've had people try to add me from the other side of the world, including one madman from Texas whose Myspace picture shows him holding a gun next to a Christmas tree - guess what he got from Santa…

The premise of Myspace is excellent and nobody can knock its success, nor its popularity amongst the young. If you want to be hip and trendy, these days you must have a page on this website, but if you want to be left alone by axe-wielding madmen I'd suggest you give it a miss. As with everything Internet, eventually it'll be usurped by another website - possibly even Microsoft's Live Spaces - or it'll be bought out by Google.