I‘ve been on MySpace for about a week and a half now and I have to say I’m less than thrilled. The strength of MySpace is in networking, of course. Anyone can join and it’s easy to set up a customized space.

What I don’t like is how unsecure the system is, how anybody can set up fake profiles, how many of those fake profiles are used to build a network of “friends” who will then follow their links to porn sites, and how nasty so many of the members’ sites look. There are lots of ways to customize your site and it’s easy to add bits of code, sure, but most of them result in web pages that are hard to read and WAY overly busy.

In contrast, I recommend to you a system that is well-organized, classy looking, and quite secure. It’s called Facebook and it’s “an online directory that connects people through social networks.”

What makes it more secure is that your profile is tied to a particular network. The networks are based off of high schools, colleges, and places of employment. ALL of those are based on email address domains. So you can’t sign up with hotmail or yahoo or even gmail. It’s based on the domain of the school or employer and they support over 2,500 colleges, 22,000 high schools and 1,000 work networks. If yours isn’t listed, you can request that they add it. Now, you CAN change add a gmail or hotmail or whatever account and make that your default, but you have to start by joining a network that’s based on your official email address.

Privacy is customizable, too. You can choose to only show a “limited profile” to some people or totally block them, making you invisible to them on Facebook. You can also choose whether anyone can view your profile, or only people in your network. Same is true for who can add you as a friend and who can view your photos.

You can still browse or search for friends, and you have lots of ways to show your connections to people. There are plenty of communication tools built in, too. You can even organize events, join groups, and upload TONS of photos. The limit is 60 pictures per album, but I don’t know if there’s a limit to the number of albums. Plus, you can tag and comment on your photos and others’ photos. That includes clicking on people in the pictures and attaching their names (if they’re in Facebook). Any picture you see, you can mouse over the tags and see a box pop up on the photo, telling you which person that is. If you click on the tag, it will take you to that person’s profile. Pretty slick!

So if you’re looking for some kind of social software for staying in touch with people or looking for old friends, I highly recommend Facebook to you. It’s much more professional, organized, and secure.

If you sign up with Facebook, look me up!