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Local Businesses Make Profiles, 'Friends' on Popular MySpace Site

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 18:04 CDT

By Alicia Wallace, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.

May 4--She's got 153 friends on her MySpace profile.

Some of the self-described female's interests: skinned knees, flat tires, nic fits, Star Trek fans, and all movies featuring convenience stores.

Who she'd like to meet: "All hungry, thirsty or just plain fun-loving people. People who need just one diaper or just one pair of emergency socks."

"She" is the Boulder General Store, 2028 14th St.

The downtown convenience store is one of a handful of local businesses -- including Illegal Pete's, Albums on the Hill and Bart's CD Cellar -- that have joined the ranks of MySpace.com, an online community that has gained popularity among teens, twenty-somethings and musicians.

Launched in 2004, the site has created an interconnected community of young adults who can post Web logs (blogs), share interests and become "friends" with their pals from high school or their favorite rock band.

"We think that the use of blogs and what we'll call the new media are critical to businesses," said Doyle Albee, new media practice director for Boulder-based Metzer Associates.

There is one major caveat, Albee said: Be genuine.

"You've got to really engage that community in the way they want to be engaged," he said.

Since MySpace doesn't allow businesses to directly advertise on the site, the Boulder General Store's profile is more about amusement than about generating profits, said manager Heather Williams.

"All of our regular customers became our friends ... We're friends with some of the other businesses around here," she said. "People tend to think (the profile's) really funny."

Along with camaraderie, the site helps generate community, said Andy Schneidkraut, who created profiles for both of his University Hill businesses --Albums on the Hill and The Woods restaurant.

"People in the industry have been recommending (joining MySpace) for a long time," he said. "As a network of people interested in music, MySpace is undeniable at this point in time."

That's because bands, both big and small, have a presence on the site, have the ability to share new and old tunes, post bulletins about upcoming shows and create another avenue for people to access music, he said.

Albums' profile -- and its more than 1,300 friends -- also helps in that music discovery process, he said.

"The opportunity exists for me to also spread the love for different musicians," he said.

And those musicians sometimes return the favor by doing in-store performances at the record store, which sits across the street from the Fox Theater. The Fox Theater also has a MySpace profile.

"In this day and age, it's really important for me and my self-esteem for them to recognize what value there is for stores like this to exist," Schneidkraut said. "I see it more than anything as a tool for creating community, creating customer loyalty."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.

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Source: Daily Camera

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