MySpace Gets Political

May 10, 2007 — -- Today MySpace.com, the hugely popular online community and networking site, announced its plan to host "Presidential Town Hall" sessions in the fall.

Taking a step into the political realm, these hour-long sessions will be an opportunity for the public to discuss issues with presidential candidates -- and many of the candidates have already signed on.

If you have a page on MySpace, then you probably know Tom Anderson. He loves karaoke, Radiohead, Friedrich Nietzsche and "Lost." He's your first friend when you register an account on the site, and by the way -- he's also the president of the lucrative media giant.

But unlike most mega-rich tycoons, you can actually click on Tom Anderson's page and send him a message.

"I mean, I still spend a lot of time in the mailbox every day," said Anderson. "I can sort of jump in for an hour and just sort of take the temperature of the site and what's going wrong, or what needs to be fixed, or what users like or don't like."

MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, who launched the site with Anderson, is the business brain, the man behind the scenes. But he doesn't have quite as many friends as Anderson does, boasting a mere 200.

"It's sad," said DeWolfe. "Tom and I have worked together for a long time and, you know, we by now have gotten to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. So he focused a lot more on the front-end user experience, and I focused on helping the organization and growing the business and making sure it becomes a global empire."

This two-man team is the driving force behind the most viewed Web site on the planet. MySpace has more than 175 million users and every day 250,000 new people sign up.

Even the candidates for president understand the power of the MySpace audience. Every one of them has a page, which means that in 2008, America will have its first president with a MySpace blog.

Today MySpace announced yet another step into politics with its plan to host the "Presidential Town Hall" sessions. The hour-long events will be held at college campuses this fall and will be an open forum for the public to talk about important issues with their candidates, many of whom have already signed on.

Candidates participating in the sessions include Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Viewers at home can submit questions through MySpace instant messenger and watch the MySpace webcast live.