"...never post messages on the profile page of celebrities or send them messages asking if you can be their friend"

While MySpace is a great place to hang out, network, make friends and keep up with your existing friends, there are a few rules you should be aware in order to avoid complete dorkiness on the site. If you’re a new user to MySpace, make it a priority to read over these rules pronto before you develop a bad rep before you even get started.

Never make the assumption you can trust anyone online just because they post a message asking if they can be your friend. Remember that everything is not always as it seems in cyberspace and this is especially true when it comes to strangers. While there are a lot of great people on MySpace, keep in mind that just because someone says they are the same age as you and have the same hobbies doesn’t make it so. Always give serious thought before you actually confirm friend requests from people you do not know.

To keep from looking like a complete dork, never post messages on the profile page of celebrities or send them messages asking if you can be their friend. By and large you can expect absolutely no reply from anyone from those profile pages and posting there just makes you look stupid.

About the only people you can expect to meet there are either people who have absolutely nothing else to do with their time but stalk celebrities on the Internet or pervs.

Next, avoid the temptation to post those pictures that were taken when you went out and partied with your friends last weekend. While they may be a hoot to pass around in person, posting them online could cause you some serious problems. In case you didn’t already know, just about everything you put on the Internet (and that includes MySpace) is available for anyone else to see. Nothing ever really goes away. Even if you delete it, it could still be cached and saved forever. Imagine someone besides your best friend stumbling upon that picture and ask yourself whether it would really be so funny if it were your parents, a teacher, a college admissions officer or even future employer.

Not quite so funny anymore, hmmm? In all seriousness, putting these kinds of pictures of yourself online could not only result in problems with college and future employment but it could also lead to some downright creepy things too. You don’t want some 40 year old perv stalking you after he saw how hot you looked in that picture you posted of yourself wearing that skimpy bikini do you?

Unless you want to aggravate everyone to distraction and practically guarantee that no one ever looks at your page, avoid overloading it with tons of graphics, HTML and other neat little features. While there is nothing wrong with these things in small doses and they can really jazz up your site, too much on one page can cause it to slow down to an unbelievable crawl.

Keep in mind that the more ‘friends’ you make on MySpace could be directly related to activity of your social life. Sure, MySpace can be a great place to get together and hang out online but if you’re spending all of your time in front of your computer making friends online how much time do you have left over for interaction with people in real life? After all, the last thing you want or need is to be labeled a MySpace addict.

Practicing these tips can save you from the nightmare of being labeled a MySpace dork. Use them and practice them responsibly.