Logged into my MySpace page earlier tonight, and for some reason I feel compelled to post about what this experience was like.

I suppose I was expecting to quickly ascertain that there has been hardly any activity on anyone's accounts, not much new information, and quickly be able to log off and move on to another part of my internet rounds. After all, this is certainly the case for me - I haven't been to the site in months.

This will probably come as no surprise, but I hardly even recognized my "friends" list (which includes many actual friends, in addition to clubs, politicians, bands I've never heard, and who knows what else since I just summarily accept most friend requests without question). Pictures of the people I actually do know have changed, most people had logged in within the past 48 hours, lots of new blog posts, layouts of pages have changed, etc.

For whatever reason, this really blindsided me. People my age actually customize their MySpace? And keep it updated on a regular basis? People of all different types, backgrounds, careers?

Yes.

How strange!

Not too strange to the mainstream media, which has been on top of this for some time now, and certainly not too strange to the entire generation of core social networking users that makes up MySpace's user base. But certainly strange to me, at least for today.

Someday, actually probably much sooner than I would imagine, they'll be teaching case studies in business schools around the world about MySpace.com...that site used by the 40-year-old administrative assistant, 32-year-old corporate hot shot, the 55-year-old musician/poet, the 22-year-old meth addict, the 19-year-old college freshman, and the 26-year-old blogger :)

You know that favorite hangout you had back in high school? Now imagine that EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER MET WAS THERE.

ALL THE TIME.

EVERY DAY.

And that's what MySpace represents - communication, 24/7/365.

We already live in a world where people don't dare to be different. The mob mentality will grow to new heights in a world of 24/7 interconnectivity. Nothing will be hidden anymore - everything will be transparent and right there, out in the open, caught on cameraphone or recorded by webcam.

As new generations raised on this level of interconnectivity rise up to take positions out in the labor force and in other positions of influence over time, the results will be felt.

Leaders who understand the MySpace era and command the mob will reap rewards of unprecedented power and resources. Medical research will move five times faster than it ever has before, creating new cures. Politicians will be cleaner than ever before, since the cost of a mistake is tremendous and there are no more secrets. Business will seize upon crowdsourced information to polish products and services to a shiny perfection, creating new dimensions for competition we haven't thought of yet and raising the importance of human capital and marketing more than ever. Social causes will continue to escalate in importance, as messages of despair and need travel around the world as fast as you can blink, and efforts to address them get organized almost as fast. Organizations like The iTest will do things never thought possible. The world will move faster than ever before, largely for the better.

But, for now, as I sit and read the poetry of a high school classmate, contemplate the politics of another classmate living overseas, and share the happiness in the new baby of a co-worker and new relationship of an old friend - all thanks to MySpace - it's worth a moment to sit and also think about the bigger picture.